Soldato
- Joined
- 23 Jan 2007
- Posts
- 4,072
- Location
- Glasgow
i have no console loyalty, so will wait and see what MS have up their sleeve.
Playstation 4 Pre-Orders
- Thread starter Bennehmaru
- Start date
Caporegime
- Joined
- 21 Jun 2006
- Posts
- 38,363
IIRC? Is that from your prior experience of the PS4 launch?
Did the PS3 not hold its launch price for quite a while?
The launch console was only available for 6 months
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3#Model_comparison
March 2007 - August 2007
then the 80GB was launched in August 2007 and the 40GB in October 2007.
Within 1 year of launch their had been 3 Generations of PS3 and 5 different models.
With each generation / revision it got cheaper iirc.
Soldato
- Joined
- 29 Dec 2004
- Posts
- 17,126
- Location
- Shepley
The UK only got a price drop relatively early in the PS4's lifespan as we got it 6 months after the States and 9 months after Japan. I'm pretty sure the launch will be simultaneous this time and they'll want to price it at a level that is competitive but doesn't require cutting for the first 12 months at least.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 21 Jun 2006
- Posts
- 38,363
Check your dates
Japan - 11 November 2006
USA - 17 November 2006
UK - 16 March 2007
Also due to the sheer number of languages used in Europe and the time it takes to translate them all, I would not be betting on a simultaneous launch, it is possible, but I wouldn't bank on it. Especially since the console hasn't even been made yet, not even a prototype for display purposes only development units.
Like I said above, within 1 year from "Japan Launch" we had 3 generations and 5 revisions and each time it saved Sony money and they passed on savings to consumers in order to close the price gap on xbox.
I hope it is a worldwide launch though, because the sooner they hit the shelves here, the less time I need to wait for decent deals to arrive.
I too have mine pre-ordered with ShopTo! However when confirming there is a disclaimer saying that this particular order does not comply to their general pre-order policy. Therefore I guess if the PS4 is announced at some crazy price of £400+ then they aren’t obliged to honour the current place-holder price...
Soldato
- Joined
- 29 Dec 2004
- Posts
- 17,126
- Location
- Shepley
Check your dates
Japan - 11 November 2006
USA - 17 November 2006
UK - 16 March 2007
Also due to the sheer number of languages used in Europe and the time it takes to translate them all, I would not be betting on a simultaneous launch, it is possible, but I wouldn't bank on it. Especially since the console hasn't even been made yet, not even a prototype for display purposes only development units.
Like I said above, within 1 year from "Japan Launch" we had 3 generations and 5 revisions and each time it saved Sony money and they passed on savings to consumers in order to close the price gap on xbox.
I hope it is a worldwide launch though, because the sooner they hit the shelves here, the less time I need to wait for decent deals to arrive.
Yeah, that should have read PS3 and I got my Japan dates wrong.
They probably have to accept though that Microsoft will undercut them on price when the new Xbox launches just because they can. The core 360 was at least £100 cheaper than PS3 when it launched wasn't it? The trick is not to drop prices too quickly because that will put people off buying if they think a cheaper deal is just round the corner.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 21 Jun 2006
- Posts
- 38,363
This is where you are wrong, people who buy @ launch know they are paying a premium to be one of the first ones to get it. If they do not know that then they are either ignorant or stupid. The reason why you see so many idiots who forgot to order one for their kid's who are now screaming at them that their mate jimmy down the road has a ps4, why don't we have one. He then has to pay some guy down the pub £600 for one. Profiteer's wet dream is when a console launches.
Consoles and games @ launch are always overpriced. 3 months later they come down slightly. Then 6-12 months later they come down to normal pricing, usually. Not saying this is for a fact, but it happens with everything. Fifa @ launch was around £35-£40, I bought it 2 months later (ultimate edition) for £25.
I bought a phone maybe 2-3 years back at launch, within 3 months it had dropped by over £100. This is the price you pay for buying a launch product. Retailer's know that they do not need to compete as much, because every retailer is allocated a set amount of units. Once they sell out, they cannot magic up any more, so people will buy from whoever still has stock, they do not even mind paying £100+ more to do so either.
This was proven with the recent Nexus 4 launch, google were selling the phone for £240 8GB and £280 16GB. Carphone warehouse were selling it for over £350 were they not? People were buying it at that price because google had sold out and they wouldn't have available stock for months. They were also selling on ebay for £500 to countries where it wasn't even available for purchase.
The only way it won't be overpriced is if Sony somehow magic up a hell of a lot of units, and by that I mean 10 times what they normally ship for a launch, which won't happen, because they are aiming for a worldwide launch this year and nobody has even seen the console yet, which means the final design is yet to be nailed down.
Soldato
- Joined
- 29 Dec 2004
- Posts
- 17,126
- Location
- Shepley
You can't compare something like the PS4 to a phone because one has a lifespan of 2 years and has a huge amount of competition with new models coming out all the time, the other has a lifespan of 10 in a very static market.
Again, Sony were forced to redevelop the PS3 and cut features to make it available at a pricepoint close to the 360 which held its RRP for years after launching. You may be right and they will take the same approach this time round and lead with a big launch price before cutting it early in the console's life, but it will cost them a lot of customers who will just wait for Microsoft's likely cheaper offering, if this generation is anything to go by.
Sony are great at mugging the early adopters but it costs them a lot of market share in the early stage of each generation. Eventually they catch up through offering price cuts and big PS3 exclusives but I can see this backfiring at some point.
Again, Sony were forced to redevelop the PS3 and cut features to make it available at a pricepoint close to the 360 which held its RRP for years after launching. You may be right and they will take the same approach this time round and lead with a big launch price before cutting it early in the console's life, but it will cost them a lot of customers who will just wait for Microsoft's likely cheaper offering, if this generation is anything to go by.
Sony are great at mugging the early adopters but it costs them a lot of market share in the early stage of each generation. Eventually they catch up through offering price cuts and big PS3 exclusives but I can see this backfiring at some point.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 21 Jun 2006
- Posts
- 38,363
How will it cost them customers? Consoles in general have always had roughly the same price. Plus you need to take inflation into account. I think what cost Sony last time round was they launched second and at a very high price historically. This time they are launching first and at a very fair price. Microsoft can afford to subsidise because of how rich they are, which helped them take the hit they took on the 360. I am on my 5th or 6th xbox, 4 or 5 of them replaced by microsoft under warranty. Just think how much they lost because of this, also think of how many consumers they are going to lose this time round because their 360 was a disaster in terms of reliability.
PS1 in 1995 was £299 @ launch iirc
PS2 in 2000 was also £299 @ launch iirc
PS3 in 2005 was £425 @ launch (first one which was ridiculously overpriced due to blu ray and cell)
PS4 in 2013 @ £399 (going by most places)
so they usually release one every 5 years, this time it has been extended due to the losses involved in consoles are getting higher and they want more life out of a console before bringing out a successor, so you are right the Ps4 could be the first one with a 10 year lifespan, but I reckon it will be roughly 8 years again to stay ahead of microsoft.
So if the PS4 launches @ £399 in 2013 imo this is actually a cheap price compared to £299 ps1 in 1995, especially when you see how many additional features and tech is inside it compared with the original console, wi-fi, ethernet, blu ray, hard drives are all extra to the GPU, CPU, RAM and Power Supply and the extra £100 justifies this perfectly imo.
£399 is a great price imo for a PS4, just that I personally will wait for it to hit an inevitable price drop, if microsoft up their game and release in 2014 which is expected, you can bank on Sony dropping their price to compete.
Therefore everything suggests there will be a huge price drop within 12 months of launch. Previous history, competition, etc.
edit: also forgot that VAT has also risen since the last launches, it is now 20%, therefore roughly £80 of the cost is VAT now, I wonder if you bought one under a business if you could claim it back? Might tempt me into buying one at launch if so.
Last edited:
What from PS+ would make you go with the PS4? The main benefit I'm aware of (I don't pay for it myself as I very rarely use the PS3) are the free games. With the small number of launch titles does anyone think PS+ will give access to any free games at launch? Maybe old PS3 titles if they are compatible?
Caporegime
- Joined
- 21 Jun 2006
- Posts
- 38,363
I think many people have noted that PS+ will not give away any Retail PS4 games for what is most likely the first 12 months of it's life, maybe even longer, it may give away PSN games, nobody really knows though, but it makes sense, why give away something for free which has only just been launched. People would just stop buying games, which is how Sony make their money.
So your most likely going to see either zero PS+ available until a considerable amount of time after launch or a restricted version of it until the catalogue is older and therefore viable to give away.
I would love to pre-order, but I can't justify it financially. I waited for the Slim to launch to pick up the PS3. I think that came out at £249? That's about my limit once you factor in another pad, games etc.
I got a Wii U for Christmas, but I wouldn't have bought it until a price drop otherwise. The ZombiU bundle wasn't a bad package really. It was also ok considering I have a ton of Wii accessories and games to continue with, that I couldn't when I bought my PS3.
Consoles, even at ~£350, are pretty good value really for the lifespan of it though.
I got a Wii U for Christmas, but I wouldn't have bought it until a price drop otherwise. The ZombiU bundle wasn't a bad package really. It was also ok considering I have a ton of Wii accessories and games to continue with, that I couldn't when I bought my PS3.
Consoles, even at ~£350, are pretty good value really for the lifespan of it though.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 21 Jun 2006
- Posts
- 38,363
Slim launched 3 years after the original launch, I do not think any serious gamer could wait that long, I think I can hold out 6-12 months for the initial price cuts.
I think a lot of people did buy the slim though as their first ps3, purely because they already had a 360, so no need for getting a ps3 @ launch.
I do know a lot of people abandoned the 360 platform after their warranty ran out and it inevitably died again, so opted for a slim instead 4 of my mates did so purely because they had so many issues with their xbox's.
Soldato
- Joined
- 7 Jan 2007
- Posts
- 10,608
- Location
- Sussex, UK
I'll get a ps4 at some point simply because the xbox has no exclusives that interests me, PS has loads.
So a £399 price is looking a safe bet then... how much was the PS3 on launch again?
[edit: it was £425. I thought they said the PS4 would be considerably cheaper, because they'd "learned from the PS3 release". Yeah, so much for that.]
[edit: it was £425. I thought they said the PS4 would be considerably cheaper, because they'd "learned from the PS3 release". Yeah, so much for that.]
Last edited:
Soldato
- Joined
- 5 Aug 2006
- Posts
- 11,505
- Location
- Derbyshire
I had a release day PS2. It chewed the game CD. So did the replacement. So did the replacement for the replacement. My fourth PS2 was a version 4 (others were version 3) and this did work. The whole process took months.
I have a 60GB PS3 and it sounds like a Dyson when it gets going.
I will probably get a PS4, but will wait for the niggles to be ironed out first.
I have a 60GB PS3 and it sounds like a Dyson when it gets going.
I will probably get a PS4, but will wait for the niggles to be ironed out first.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 21 Jun 2006
- Posts
- 38,363
you have to take into account inflation, increase in VAT, increase in hardware / technology. They were originally planning 4GB of DDR5 but then MS rumour mill said it would have 8GB, Sony were forced to increase it to 8GB, this type of RAM is very fast, therefore most likely expensive.
imo £399 is cheap for what it is
I have had a release day PS1 and it worked until I gave it away to a charity/hospital maybe 2 years ago, it had been lying in the attic though ever since I got my launch PS2, which was also given to the charity/hospital and also worked fine but it sounded like a hoover (it was on it's last legs), my launch PS3 was the only one which died on me but after 5 years and 10 months of use, my retailer refunded me £55 under the SOGA in order to pay for 50% of my refurb which is a slim from sony.
Therefore imo sony's launch consoles are solid and always have been, MS as everyone knows made the biggest mistake of their lives launching the 360 the way they did, clearly not fit for purpose. I went through about 5 of them within 3 years, the last refurb died before christmas (4 months back) and was replaced with a black slim model.