The console wars between Microsoft and Sony have been rumbling on for many years now. The launch of the Xbox One was something that pleased many people, but it was also something that brought a smile to the corporate face of Sony — at least the $499 price tag did. Speaking to Ars Technica at E3 earlier this month, Scott Rohde, Sony’s Head of Worldwide Studios America, spoke about when he first learned of the pricing. “We were dancing in the aisles and high-fiving” when the price point was announced.
This was obviously great news for the company as it meant the PlayStation 4 was going to launch $100 cheaper than its closest rival. “We were in press conference rehearsals last year. We had a feeling they were going to come in at $499, but we weren’t sure. So yeah, we were dancing in the aisles and high-fiving. It was great. Anyone that came in on an interview, it didn’t matter what the question was, I could always just answer it with $399. It was the answer to every question.”
The pricing of the PS4 was no surprise. Sony has previously made it clear that this generation of the console was going to be cheaper. This was a bid to make up for the mistakes made with the PS3. “We wanted a machine in PlayStation 3 that was amazing, that could do everything, and completely misjudged how much the market could bear in terms of price point.”
Microsoft obviously made a calculated decision when releasing the Xbox One prices as it is. More recently a Kinect-free version of the console was released brought the price down to $399.99 — the same as the PS4. This is something Sony claims to have been expecting. “I think that, to be truthful, we always assumed that eventually they’d have to release a SKU without a camera”.
