PS4/X1 Price. Update: Michael Pachter estimates X1 $399/PS4 $349

Update: 

In an interview with Pachter, which will be published later this week, Pachter estimates that consumers can expect to pay around $399 for the Xbox One and about $349 for the PS4. "The boxes will both sell out at the above prices," he said, when asked which he believes will have the more successful launch. And given the pre-order records being set by the Xbox One, I tend to believe him.

When asked who will come out on top once E3 is gone and passed, Pachter responded: "I think both Sony and Microsoft will perform really well, and think that gamers come out on top, because they will have more choices than ever before." So with the first round of next-gen console reveals already in the bag, all eyes are now on the E3 press conferences. GameZone's interview with Michael Pachter will be published in full later this week.

http://www.gamezone.com/news/2013/05...-out-at-launch

Well there's some good news we can all agree on. This is based on an analysis, an estimation of the market, not inside information.

I think everyone already assumed the PS4 to come in at less than $600 but I was still predicting both to come in around $500. 

The price of Kinect was not factored into their price estimates.

If true, I'm guessing a round of price drops are around the corner for the 360/PS3.

Vgleaks docs had $299 for the X1. Wonder if that turns out true as well.

How low could they go?

The Xbox One may cost less than the launch price of the Xbox 360, it is believed.

Robert Lloyd, chief financial officer of games retailer Games Spot, told financial analysts that the new-generation consoles, such as Xbox One and PS4, would have a lower opening price than they did last cycle, PCWorld reports.

This would mean the X Box One would be cheaper than most recent estimates suggest, as the 360 originally launched at £209.99 for the core system and £279.99 for the 20GB model.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/gaming/price-of-xbox-one-may-be-less-than-360-say-insiders-8630966.html

PS: I'm assuming that was supposed to mean GameStop.

It's time to start putting some of this information into one thread instead creating 3-4 Xbox One threads an hour.Travo_basic

Fixed.:P

My hope. Both for $400 or under. One should be cheaper but who knows. Reality, $500 systems. Meh.dvader654

Didn't they already confirm this a while ago that it won't be as expensive this time around?

I remember for a while an official PS4 Price of 399 $ or Euro was floating around here somewhere. Or was it even 299 $ / Euro?

I don't expect either to go over $400. I'm pretty sure that both MS and Sony realize the importance of launching at a reasonable price.

Both systems will be $500. You can get an off the shelf PC with a GTX 680, 12 gigs of RAM and an I5 processer for $580 A way more powerful system. Consoles yay? I would love to be proven wrong and see them at $400 for a non gimped SKU.GodModeEnabled

off the shelf, $580, GTX 680, 12GB RAM, i5!?

Yeah link or gtfo, even I as a PC gamer know that a GTX 680 alone will be more than half of that budget

I'm guessing they'll both be $500.  Gamestop can guess too if they want :P

Reality, $500 systems. Meh.dvader654

Not gonna happen. 

For starters, one of Sony's launch SKUs was $500 with the PS3, if the rumor is true, that would make it wholly inaccurate. 

I don't see a dime above $400 for the PS4, and I think Microsoft will do the same, possibly lower now with a contract. 

All I know is $299 is like KY jelly to those people who are about to bend over and accept to be Xboned. If it's $500 that's just going in dry.

First GameStop and now Michael Pachter predicts low launch prices.

In an interview with Pachter, which will be published later this week, Pachter estimates that consumers can expect to pay around $399 for the Xbox One and about $349 for the PS4. "The boxes will both sell out at the above prices," he said, when asked which he believes will have the more successful launch. And given the pre-order records being set by the Xbox One, I tend to believe him.

When asked who will come out on top once E3 is gone and passed, Pachter responded: "I think both Sony and Microsoft will perform really well, and think that gamers come out on top, because they will have more choices than ever before." So with the first round of next-gen console reveals already in the bag, all eyes are now on the E3 press conferences. GameZone's interview with Michael Pachter will be published in full later this week.

http://www.gamezone.com/news/2013/05...-out-at-launch

400 quid for both

[QUOTE="dvader654"]Reality, $500 systems. Meh.Shame-usBlackley

Not gonna happen. 

For starters, one of Sony's launch SKUs was $500 with the PS3, if the rumor is true, that would make it wholly inaccurate. 

Correct.

If Sony can launch Vita for $249 and include an OLED screen, a four core GPU, 4 core CPU, 712MB RAM, gyro, touchscreen, bluetooth, two cameras and wifi n then $399 should be a lock.

It will be interesting to see if they go lower than that. I was hoping for $299 but after 8GB of RAM, it's probably not going to happen. But Pachter's newest prediction may turn out to be accurate.

$349 - 120GB HDD
$399 - 500GB HDD - I think.

I don't expect either to go over $400. I'm pretty sure that both MS and Sony realize the importance of launching at a reasonable price.

Teufelhuhn

This. And I wouldn't be shocked if someone goes lower.

[QUOTE="Teufelhuhn"]

I don't expect either to go over $400. I'm pretty sure that both MS and Sony realize the importance of launching at a reasonable price.

CarnageHeart

This. And I wouldn't be shocked if someone goes lower.

Do you expect game prices to stay at $60?

Im worried that if they go to $70 then i might not be able to afford more than one game. :(

It's Patcher, which means the information is totally wrong.

I'd love to see a $349 PS4, however.

[QUOTE="CarnageHeart"]

[QUOTE="Teufelhuhn"]

I don't expect either to go over $400. I'm pretty sure that both MS and Sony realize the importance of launching at a reasonable price.

S0lidSnake

This. And I wouldn't be shocked if someone goes lower.

Do you expect game prices to stay at $60?

Im worried that if they go to $70 then i might not be able to afford more than one game. :(

Same here. That would suck especially if there's no rentals. 

[QUOTE="CarnageHeart"]

[QUOTE="Teufelhuhn"]

I don't expect either to go over $400. I'm pretty sure that both MS and Sony realize the importance of launching at a reasonable price.

S0lidSnake

This. And I wouldn't be shocked if someone goes lower.

Do you expect game prices to stay at $60?

Im worried that if they go to $70 then i might not be able to afford more than one game. :(

Yes, Jack Tretton said something to that effect a while ago.

On CNBC last night, Sony CEO Jack Tretton implied that games for the company's newly-announced PlayStation 4 won't retail for more than $60.

"We're gonna welcome free-to-play models, games from 99 cents up to those 60 dollar games," he said. Later, he added: "We'll justify that $60 price point."

http://kotaku.com/5986208/if-ps4-games-only-cost-60-theyre-actually-cheaper-than-ps3-games

It's Patcher, which means the information is totally wrong.

I'd love to see a $349 PS4, however.

Shame-usBlackley

Probably :P. He's wrong a lot, but predicting the game industry is tricky so I can't be too down on the guy.

[QUOTE="S0lidSnake"]

[QUOTE="CarnageHeart"]

This. And I wouldn't be shocked if someone goes lower.

alexwatchtower

Do you expect game prices to stay at $60?

Im worried that if they go to $70 then i might not be able to afford more than one game. :(

Same here. That would suck especially if there's no rentals.

PS Plus subscribers get to download full games and play them for free for an hour. I don't see why that model couldn't be adopted to rentals if companies were so inclined.

[QUOTE="Shame-usBlackley"]

It's Patcher, which means the information is totally wrong.

I'd love to see a $349 PS4, however.

CarnageHeart

Probably :P. He's wrong a lot, but predicting the game industry is tricky so I can't be too down on the guy.

But it's both GameStop and Pachter so it has more weight. GameStop was saying even lower. I'm beginning to believe it. 

[QUOTE="alexwatchtower"]

[QUOTE="S0lidSnake"]

Do you expect game prices to stay at $60?

Im worried that if they go to $70 then i might not be able to afford more than one game. :(

CarnageHeart

Same here. That would suck especially if there's no rentals.

PS Plus subscribers get to download full games and play them for free for an hour. I don't see why that model couldn't be adopted to rentals if companies were so inclined.

1 hour? That sucks though. Think there's a chance they'll have online rentals after 30 days?

1 hour? That sucks though. Think there's a chance they'll have online rentals after 30 days?

alexwatchtower

Your guess is as good as mine. If people aren't or are no longer buying a game (no money) why not make some money by making it available for rental?

[QUOTE="alexwatchtower"]

1 hour? That sucks though. Think there's a chance they'll have online rentals after 30 days?

CarnageHeart

Your guess is as good as mine. If people aren't or are no longer buying a game (no money) why not make some money by making it available for rental?

Honestly if they don't either drop the prices or offer some sort of rental/ digital used game services or at least Ebay used game service I'm not buying them and I'll just upgrade to a nice gamer's laptop. No way will I be at the hands of GameStop for my cheap games. I only buy ~7-8 new games in a generation. But I rent a whole bunch of them. If they take that away, I don't see the value in it for me anymore. Not unless there's some mind blowing experiences that I just gotta have.

What kind of loss would Sony take, $70-100 per unit? The only expensive part is the RAM. I can actually seem them doing this and going for the jugular with how aggressive they've been this year. On the other hand both PS3 and Vita are overdue for price cuts. Floppy_Jim

At $399? Probably not even that unless they pack in Move.

PS: I don't believe $349.  Seems like an odd price for a console launch price. Has any console ever launched at mid-hundred level like that?

[QUOTE="Floppy_Jim"]What kind of loss would Sony take, $70-100 per unit? The only expensive part is the RAM. I can actually seem them doing this and going for the jugular with how aggressive they've been this year. On the other hand both PS3 and Vita are overdue for price cuts. alexwatchtower

At $399? Probably not even that unless they pack in Move.

PS: I don't believe $349.  Seems like an odd price for a console launch price. Has any console ever launched at mid-hundred level like that?

[QUOTE="GodModeEnabled"]Both systems will be $500. You can get an off the shelf PC with a GTX 680, 12 gigs of RAM and an I5 processer for $580 A way more powerful system. Consoles yay? I would love to be proven wrong and see them at $400 for a non gimped SKU.NoodleFighter

off the shelf, $580, GTX 680, 12GB RAM, i5!?

Yeah link or gtfo, even I as a PC gamer know that a GTX 680 alone will be more than half of that budget

lol yeah, that's what I was thinking too.  I just barely upgraded my PC last year with a 560, i5 and 8 gigs of RAM and a new motherboard, and the whole shebang cost me a little under $700.

[QUOTE="alexwatchtower"]

[QUOTE="Floppy_Jim"]What kind of loss would Sony take, $70-100 per unit? The only expensive part is the RAM. I can actually seem them doing this and going for the jugular with how aggressive they've been this year. On the other hand both PS3 and Vita are overdue for price cuts. DerekLoffin

At $399? Probably not even that unless they pack in Move.

PS: I don't believe $349.  Seems like an odd price for a console launch price. Has any console ever launched at mid-hundred level like that?

Did it? I thought it was $399 too. Excuse my ignorance then.

Both systems will be $500. You can get an off the shelf PC with a GTX 680, 12 gigs of RAM and an I5 processer for $580 A way more powerful system. Consoles yay? I would love to be proven wrong and see them at $400 for a non gimped SKU.GodModeEnabled

It will be interesting to see how a GTX 680 or even a GTX 780 handles next gen games. They definitely have the advantage in raw power. My GPU has a 300 Gflops advantage over the Xbone GPU. I want to see if I can run next gen games at 720p with all the bells and whistles of console versions.

[QUOTE="Shame-usBlackley"]

[QUOTE="dvader654"]Reality, $500 systems. Meh.S0lidSnake

Not gonna happen. 

For starters, one of Sony's launch SKUs was $500 with the PS3, if the rumor is true, that would make it wholly inaccurate. 

Correct.

If Sony can launch Vita for $249 and include an OLED screen, a four core GPU, 4 core CPU, 712MB RAM, gyro, touchscreen, bluetooth, two cameras and wifi n then $399 should be a lock.

It will be interesting to see if they go lower than that. I was hoping for $299 but after 8GB of RAM, it's probably not going to happen. But Pachter's newest prediction may turn out to be accurate.

$349 - 120GB HDD
$399 - 500GB HDD - I think.

Patcher? Accurate?

Man, things are changing this generation.

That may be the most logical thing to ever come out of Pachter's mouth.DarkCatalyst

Pachter's actually been pretty good lately. He's been honing his skills.

[QUOTE="DarkCatalyst"]That may be the most logical thing to ever come out of Pachter's mouth.alexwatchtower

Pachter's actually been pretty good lately. He's been honing his skills.

Yes Mr.Pacther I do indeed have a choice. I can continue to purchase games cheaply on Steam holiday sales as well as GoG.com while playing console oldies....well, in a way I can't state here on Gamespot.

What kind of loss would Sony take, $70-100 per unit? The only expensive part is the RAM. I can actually seem them doing this and going for the jugular with how aggressive they've been this year. On the other hand both PS3 and Vita are overdue for price cuts. Floppy_Jim

Here, this could provide a hint:

Financial analysts believe that AMD will get from $60 to $100 for every accelerated processing unit containing eight x86 general-purpose cores as well as Radeon HD graphics engines designed for Microsoft Xbox One and Sony PlayStation 4. Mark Lipacis, an analyst with Jefferies & Co., thinks that the average price of a console SoC will be between $60 and $80; Hans Mosesmann with Raymond James is a little bit more optimistic and believes that the company will get from $60 to $90 per chip.

Our analysis assumes that this generation of consoles ramps up at 60-90% of the previous model, with average selling prices (ASPs) varying from $60-100, said Mr. Mosesmann.

Both analysts are actually extremely conservative about pricing per system-on-chip early in the cycle since both Microsoft and Sony are used to pay vast amounts of money for hardware in the beginning of their consoles lifecycles. For example, back in 2005 Microsoft spent around $105 on custom triple-core IBM Power chip in Xbox 360 as well as around $140 on ATI R500 graphics sub-system. Sony initially paid $89 for the Cell processor and $129 got Nvidia RSX graphics engine inside the PS3. Keeping in mind that the AMD chips inside the PS4 and Xbox One feature eight x86 cores, advanced graphics adapter, sophisticated memory controller as well as plethora of custom logic, it is illogical to charge for them less than AMD charges for its mainstream APUs that hardly offer similar performance in games. As a result, the price that AMD should be getting will likely be north from $100 in at least 2013 2014 timeframe.

xbitslab.com