Gaming PlayStation 5

[Havak]

If Sony can get the Digital Console down to £349 that's a huge draw. However, I do think (in regards to UK pricing) they were originally going to go for £499 & £449. Now, I think they'll drop to £449 & £399 after seeing the rival's prices.

Although, one thing I haven't seen being talked about is the SSD on the Digital-Only PS5. Have Sony ever outright confirmed that it will have the same amount of storage as the one with the Disc Drive? If it is that's awesome, but maybe they have cut it in half to lower the cost even further?

 

[Massive Spanner]

I don't really see the point in the digital version, for me anyway, if it's only £50 less. By the time you buy 3 physical copies of a game vs digital you've already saved around 60 quid.

 

[Berbasbullet]

I don't really see the point in the digital version, for me anyway, if it's only £50 less. By the time you buy 3 physical copies of a game vs digital you've already saved around 60 quid.

For sure, the only benefit is that it actually looks a bit nicer.

 

[Dave_MUFC]

I don't really see the point in the digital version, for me anyway, if it's only £50 less. By the time you buy 3 physical copies of a game vs digital you've already saved around 60 quid.

Yeah, if it's that little difference, I'll be getting the disc version, even if I buy mostly digital, it wouldn't be worth the difference for getting cheaper PS4 games on disc too.

 

[Adamsk7]

I actually think it might be £349 and £399, they can afford to take a loss on digital to lock them into their shop and would want to undercut the Xbox on the X.

But that’s literally an optimistic guess

Very optimistic but I hope you’re right!

 

[Havak]

I don't really see the point in the digital version, for me anyway, if it's only £50 less. By the time you buy 3 physical copies of a game vs digital you've already saved around 60 quid.

Yeah, a lot of people will think like this.

However, when it comes to parents buying the machine I wouldn't be surprised if they just want to get it as cheap as possible from the outset and the kids only end up with Fifa and Call of Duty every year, while playing Fortnite and other F2P games etc. I think this is the biggest market for digital-only products.

 

[Berbasbullet]

Yeah, a lot of people will think like this.

However, when it comes to parents buying the machine I wouldn't be surprised if they just want to get it as cheap as possible from the outset and the kids only end up with Fifa and Call of Duty every year, while playing Fortnight and other F2P games etc. I think this is the biggest market for digital-only products.

That’s true Fortnite and war zone have changed how gaming is and arguably for the better.

 

[JB7]

I believe it was an Amazon page that has since been removed. That probably will be the price but not official yet.

You also have to bear in mind that MS subsidise the loss on Xbox through other avenues. They'll probably sell at a loss. Sony don't necessarily have that luxury.

Sony will 100% be selling the console at a loss.

 

[b82REZ]

Sony will 100% be selling the console at a loss.

Most likely, but not to the same extent as MS are able to.

I did ask my friend this and he doesn't think Sony will sell at a loss, but he was speculating as much as me.

 

[JB7]

Most likely, but not to the same extent as MS are able to.

I did ask my friend this and he doesn't think Sony will sell at a loss, but he was speculating as much as me.

With the components inside these consoles I cannot for the life of me see how they're not going to be selling at a loss unless they come in a good couple hundred pounds above the Xbox which would be suicide.

Microsoft have gone in hard this year and I think Sony need to pull something out of the bag to compete, the £28.99 Xbox console & game pass offer is going to appeal massively to casual gamers I think.

 

[esmufc07]

With the components inside these consoles I cannot for the life of me see how they're not going to be selling at a loss unless they come in a good couple hundred pounds above the Xbox which would be suicide.

Microsoft have gone in hard this year and I think Sony need to pull something out of the bag to compete, the £28.99 Xbox console & game pass offer is going to appeal massively to casual gamers I think.

I'd rather just pay up front and I think a lot of people are like that. People have enough monthly outgoings without adding another £30 on top. All Access has been going for a while now and I'm not sure whether it's been a huge success or not.

Sony sold the PS3 and PS4 at a loss (Think the PS3 was selling at between $250-$300 loss depending on the model), and they'll do the same with PS5. Just depends how much they're willing to subsidise their consoles for. They have over 100m PS Plus subscribers so they can afford to take a bit of a bigger hit than they would have been able to 15 years ago.

But be clear the PS5 is competing with the Series X, not the Series S, and their price will come in line with that or maybe £50 higher, which is fine.

 

[Damien]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

A PlayStation employee

 

[DatIrishFella]

If the all digital is €399 (which would be insane) then Sony win.

 

[Damien]

If the all digital is €399 (which would be insane) then Sony win.

Yeah. I really can't see it being the case but one can hope.

 

[JB7]

I'd rather just pay up front and I think a lot of people are like that. People have enough monthly outgoings without adding another £30 on top. All Access has been going for a while now and I'm not sure whether it's been a huge success or not.

Sony sold the PS3 and PS4 at a loss (Think the PS3 was selling at between $250-$300 loss depending on the model), and they'll do the same with PS5. Just depends how much they're willing to subsidise their consoles for. They have over 100m PS Plus subscribers so they can afford to take a bit of a bigger hit than they would have been able to 15 years ago.

But be clear the PS5 is competing with the Series X, not the Series S, and their price will come in line with that or maybe £50 higher, which is fine.

I agree that a lot of people would & ordinarily I'd be in the same boat but am not really in the market for a console as I've not long moved from PS4 to PC but if the £28.99 console/game pass had been a PS deal I'd probably be all over it.

To clarify the £28.99 a month is for the X (I think it's a lot lower for the S), lets be real the S is nothing more than a con artist console designed to trick parents & people who don't look into what they're buying.

 

[Havak]

If the all digital is €399 (which would be insane) then Sony win.

Sony 'wins' regardless of price of the machine IMO. I still think the PS5 will outsell the XSX/S by 50-100% over time. I do suspect the gap will be closer this time though purely due to Microsoft offering good value for money and the chance of their new studios bringing out exclusive games in a few years. Don't want to turn this into the Sony vs. Microsoft thread so I'll leave that there, but I do think Sony just has to be reasonably competitive in pricing to do as well as expected. I would like to think they learned their lesson from the high price of the PS3 to not repeat it (even though they still edged that generation in the end between the two). All Sony needs to do is not be complacent again and they'll sell the most.

 

[dumbo]

£549 with 3 months free PS+

 

[EwanI Ted]

I'd rather just pay up front and I think a lot of people are like that. People have enough monthly outgoings without adding another £30 on top. All Access has been going for a while now and I'm not sure whether it's been a huge success or not.

Sony sold the PS3 and PS4 at a loss (Think the PS3 was selling at between $250-$300 loss depending on the model), and they'll do the same with PS5. Just depends how much they're willing to subsidise their consoles for. They have over 100m PS Plus subscribers so they can afford to take a bit of a bigger hit than they would have been able to 15 years ago.

But be clear the PS5 is competing with the Series X, not the Series S, and their price will come in line with that or maybe £50 higher, which is fine.

I disagree on the payment method, the monthly subscription model has proven to be successful in all sorts of fields, from mobile phones to software and I think it'll be the same for consoles. The reality is that lots of people that the consoles target - notably young professionals - will have income but few savings. Given a choice between saving up for 6 months or getting it right now, lots of people will choose the latter. Indeed, given that the deals appear to be interest free, there's no financial benefit to paying up front anyway.

This is especially true if they're ok with the Series S. Given a choice between, say, a PS5 for £375 plus a further £11pm for its services, or £21pm for everything, the latter just sounds so much better value. I think Sony need a way to match this offer. If they're going to split the difference on price between the S and X, that has to go for a monthly sub as well as the over the counter price.

 

[Shane88]

£549 with 3 months free PS+

They can shove it up their arse.

 

[Nickosaur]

Haven't had a Playstation since the PS2, but now I've got a gaming PC to cover the Xbox exclusives (via GamePass for PC), I'm getting a PS5.

Thinking of going for the digital instead of the disc drive - it's not like I have a library of old PS games that I can use, so majority of my purchases will be digital anyway. And I get the concerns that you're locked into the PS Store, but can you not still purchase game codes from the likes of CD keys?

 

[Havak]

Haven't had a Playstation since the PS2, but now I've got a gaming PC to cover the Xbox exclusives (via GamePass for PC), I'm getting a PS5.

Thinking of going for the digital instead of the disc drive - it's not like I have a library of old PS games that I can use, so majority of my purchases will be digital anyway. And I get the concerns that you're locked into the PS Store, but can you not still purchase game codes from the likes of CD keys?

I may be wrong, but I am pretty sure that at least Sony and Nintendo have now prohibited retailers from selling download codes for full games.

 

[Bojan11]

Haven't had a Playstation since the PS2, but now I've got a gaming PC to cover the Xbox exclusives (via GamePass for PC), I'm getting a PS5.

Thinking of going for the digital instead of the disc drive - it's not like I have a library of old PS games that I can use, so majority of my purchases will be digital anyway. And I get the concerns that you're locked into the PS Store, but can you not still purchase game codes from the likes of CD keys?

No. Nintendo have blocked people from buying game codes recently too. Sony have blocked it a long time in Europe and recently blocked it in America.

But Sony PSN cards are priced better than Xbox equivalent. £50 card goes for £42, £80 for £69, £90 for £79 and £100 for £89 on ShopTo and cdkeys.

 

[Nickosaur]

I may be wrong, but I am pretty sure that at least Sony and Nintendo have now prohibited retailers from selling download codes for full games.

No. Nintendo have blocked people from buying game codes recently too. Sony have blocked it a long time in Europe and recently blocked it in America.

But Sony PSN cards are priced better than Xbox equivalent. £50 card goes for £42, £80 for £69, £90 for £79 and £100 for £89 on ShopTo and cdkeys.

Ah okay, cheers. Guess the disc-drive version is the better option long term...

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

Haven't had a Playstation since the PS2, but now I've got a gaming PC to cover the Xbox exclusives (via GamePass for PC), I'm getting a PS5.

Thinking of going for the digital instead of the disc drive - it's not like I have a library of old PS games that I can use, so majority of my purchases will be digital anyway. And I get the concerns that you're locked into the PS Store, but can you not still purchase game codes from the likes of CD keys?

Also everyone says that the digital market is expensive but I've picked up some amazing deals this year that rival anything on the shelves. I wouldn't worry personally.

 

[b82REZ]

Also everyone says that the digital market is expensive but I've picked up some amazing deals this year that rival anything on the shelves. I wouldn't worry personally.

But you have to put that in context. Any big AAA games takes months, if not years to receive significant reductions. Whereas if you're so inclined you can trade in physical copies of games, putting them more in line with digital store reductions.

I just think people are thinking too short term with the digital edition. Sony will hold all the cards, if they successfully manage to get more people to opt into digital only, who's to say they stop having big sales? Physical discs and the market they create is what causes big digital sales.

 

[Shark]

Haven't had a Playstation since the PS2, but now I've got a gaming PC to cover the Xbox exclusives (via GamePass for PC), I'm getting a PS5.

Thinking of going for the digital instead of the disc drive - it's not like I have a library of old PS games that I can use, so majority of my purchases will be digital anyway. And I get the concerns that you're locked into the PS Store, but can you not still purchase game codes from the likes of CD keys?

PC and PS5 is a great blend really, you get amazing exclusives like GOW, Uncharted and Horizon as well as everything from Microsoft side also and Steam.

Think I'll be going digital also, I haven't bought a physical game since TW3 back in 2015.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

But you have to put that in context. Any big AAA games takes months, if not years to receive significant reductions. Whereas if you're so inclined you can trade in physical copies of games, putting them more in line with digital store reductions.

I just think people are thinking too short term with the digital edition. Sony will hold all the cards, if they successfully manage to get more people to opt into digital only, who's to say they stop having big sales? Physical discs and the market they create is what causes big digital sales.

Well, basically Xbox will say that because they will always compete, add to the fact that there is still a physical market and I think this fear is misguided at least this generation. Sony will never go the way of Nintendo it's just not the strategy. I get the trade-in reasoning but I can honestly say I haven't traded in a single PS4 game this gen as I generally just like keeping my catalog. What you also have to realize, at least to me, is a digital game is worth an extra tenner purely for the convenience factor.

Just to say even after all that reasoning I think ill still get the physical addition purely because I still have a few ps4 disks.

 

[jungledrums]

PC and PS5 is a great blend really, you get amazing exclusives like GOW, Uncharted and Horizon as well as everything from Microsoft side also and Steam.

Think I'll be going digital also, I haven't bought a physical game since TW3 back in 2015.

Is there a difference between the Xbox version of gamepass and the PC version? As in, does Xbox have some games available on gamepass that pc doesn’t?

 

[b82REZ]

Well, basically Xbox will say that because they will always compete, add to the fact that there is still a physical market and I think this fear is misguided at least this generation. Sony will never go the way of Nintendo it's just not the strategy. I get the trade-in reasoning but I can honestly say I haven't traded in a single PS4 game this gen as I generally just like keeping my catalog. What you also have to realize, at least to me, is a digital game is worth an extra tenner purely for the convenience factor.

Just to say even after all that reasoning I think ill still get the physical addition purely because I still have a few ps4 disks.

Well you're the exception in this case. Used games stores are still thriving and still have a huge catalogue of new games.

I get the convenience factor for some games, but honestly the mark up on some of the games simply doesn't justify that convenience. The fact that AAA games are often set at £60 for the duration of their time on the store, aside from one or two sales a year does not suggest Sony won't adopt a Nintendo type approach to artificially inflate the value of their digital products.

In all honestly i think most people should be suggesting the physical addition to any unsure posters. They risk getting locked into a bad ecosystem by going that route. This is just a slightly softer approach to what MS tried with the One.

 

[Shark]

Is there a difference between the Xbox version of gamepass and the PC version? As in, does Xbox have some games available on gamepass that pc doesn’t?

Not that I'm aware of but maybe someone else would know for sure.

 

[jungledrums]

Not that I'm aware of but maybe someone else would know for sure.

Cheers. If that’s the case, the ps5/pc combo really is ultimate.

 

[b82REZ]

Haven't had a Playstation since the PS2, but now I've got a gaming PC to cover the Xbox exclusives (via GamePass for PC), I'm getting a PS5.

Thinking of going for the digital instead of the disc drive - it's not like I have a library of old PS games that I can use, so majority of my purchases will be digital anyway. And I get the concerns that you're locked into the PS Store, but can you not still purchase game codes from the likes of CD keys?

Digital only consoles will only be able to get games from Sony's digital store. Other retailers can no longer sell download codes. The only way around that would be to buy PSN credit from an online retailer for slightly cheaper than offered on the store. But considering Sony have already stopped retailers selling digital codes I wouldn't be surprised if they try to nip the other loop hole in the bud.

Honestly, unless it's offensively more expensive to go physical I'd say the long term savings will outweigh the short term cost of the physical version of the console.

 

[b82REZ]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

A PlayStation employee

My friend is a PlayStation employee and he knows feck all about the price. He says whenever meetings start moving into the pricing discussion, non essential staff are asked to leave and basically it's only the top brass that are privy to that information.

 

[Tiber]

My friend is a PlayStation employee and he knows feck all about the price. He says whenever meetings start moving into the pricing discussion, non essential staff are asked to leave and basically it's only the top brass that are privy to that information.

Yea nobody but the very top level execs have a clue about the price. Apparently the PS4 price wasn't set until hours before the announcement

 

[BristolRuss]

Is there a difference between the Xbox version of gamepass and the PC version? As in, does Xbox have some games available on gamepass that pc doesn’t?

Yep, there are some games which are console only (purely because a PC port was never made) and some games, such as Football Manager, are only on the PC gamepass - because I imagine trying to get a game like that to run on a console would be tricky. Gamepass Ultimate gives you access to both the console and PC libraries.

 

[Rooney1987]

Just read the Bloomberg article on cutting the estimated production. They had a interesting part on general price -

The full PS5 console may be priced as low as $449 while the slimmer digital-only version may dip below $400, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Masahiro Wakasugi.

 

[VeevaVee]

Other retailers can no longer sell download codes.

Is this the same for Xbox? No more CD Keys?

 

[BristolRuss]

Is this the same for Xbox? No more CD Keys?

I think it's still good for Xbox.

Just checked and yeah they don't seem to have PS4 prices anymore but they do have Xbox prices. It's one of the reasons I'm not ready to fully embrace a digital only console yet. Say you wanted to buy Assassin's Creed Origins and you only had a digital console, well on the PS4 store it is £49.99 and on the Xbox store it is a whopping £54.99! Except at least on Xbox I can pop to CD Keys and buy an Xbox code for £11.49.

 

[Rooney1987]

Is this the same for Xbox? No more CD Keys?

Yesterday I got 2 lots of Gamepass Ultimate on CD keys for 3 months at 18 quid and worked.

 

[Dave_MUFC]

Digital only consoles will only be able to get games from Sony's digital store. Other retailers can no longer sell download codes. The only way around that would be to buy PSN credit from an online retailer for slightly cheaper than offered on the store. But considering Sony have already stopped retailers selling digital codes I wouldn't be surprised if they try to nip the other loop hole in the bud.

Honestly, unless it's offensively more expensive to go physical I'd say the long term savings will outweigh the short term cost of the physical version of the console.

Didn't realise that myself, thought places like CDKeys were selling PS4 digital games etc.

That changes everything for me. Considering I missed out on the PS4 generation, and mainly want the PS5 on day one to play the backlog, I can't see Sony pricing all their PS4 exclusives at great prices on launch, so I think it'll be the physical version for me, even if it's £100 more.