Sony has already managed to cut the costs of PS4 hardware production

Sony has already managed to reduce the manufacturing costs associated with PS4 hardware, the company has revealed.

[Randostar]

This is great for Sony. I really don't think we will see a price cut for at least a minimum of 2 years. It would be cool if they cut the price like $20 or $25 this holiday season though. I dont think that will happen though.

[sinspirit]

@wheresmymonkey

No. In the beginning it was like $388 to manufacture, not including labor and shipping costs. It was losing a small amount per console but a few months ago had become profitable.

[SoapShoes]

They were losing a small amount on the PS4 when factoring in labor and shipping but they said if the consumer bought a PS Plus sub or software they would be in the black.

[Giul_Xainx]

In the quarterly update Sony revealed that more than half of PS4 units sold have a PS+ account. The gaming division is now the most profitable segment followed by their new cell phone cameras, and their film industry. TV is turning around, cell phone is the biggest loser. Pc is still dying.

[sinspirit]

@above

None of that means anything here. I'm talking about how the console itself was just barely not profitable for months and now it is profitable in itself.

PC is not dying. You kind of just destroyed your integrity. PC has been steadily rising since PS2 era. It's still not as big as consoles worldwide but it certainly is a huge community that keeps growing.

[jukins]

its more likely that they'll have holiday bundles rather than a pricecut.

[kreate]

Exactly.

[colonel179]

As long as the PS4 sells as well as it's doing there is no way Sony will cut the price. Look at how long it took for Nintendo to reduce Wii price. There is demand for it, so there is no need yet.

[thisismyaccount]

$399 | Uncharted 4 PS4 Bundle X-Mas 2015
$449 | Uncharted 4 + U1-U3 Remastered PS4 Bundle X-Mas 2015

$199 | FAKIN DEEP DOWN!!! wuer arye? Seriously... WHERE THE eF is DEEP Down? F2P game by Capcom with the help of some Sony Engineers... few levels, few mobs... are we ever going to be able to play this one ?

Rime, DD and NMS are my reasons to get a PS4, there tousand others, but if you had to decide on 3 games, those three would be my top 3.

NSM = never seen, never played something like that
RIME = a MADERFAK ICO OPEN WORLD game! Period!
DD = Coop Dark Souls? up to 4 or 5? people..... ufff, im running out of fingernails! :=)

[SilentNegotiator]

A $20 price drop wouldn't be a compelling reason to get a lot more people to buy a Ps4, just leave them with $20 less from people that are buying it anyway. There's a reason that the big three don't typically do small price drops.

Remember how successful Ps3's $100 price drop to $299 was? I believe it sold over 1.7 million...in a September.

[xtremeimport]

We saw a price increase here in Canada.

[Christopher]

You can thank the retailers for that, not Sony.

[ThatOneGuyThere]

i think christmas this year is going to be ultra competitive. MS has to do something about their XB1. Im going to go ahead and predict a 349.99 halo bundle. That paired with their giant inventory of units might be the boost in sales they need. If they cant turn it around this christmas, they never will. The pressure will be on sony to keep the ball away from microsoft.

[CorruptBoyd]

No matter what BOTH companys will sell their consoles. Microsoft may be a little behind but in a couple years they will both have sold alot of units

[3-4-5]

Most likely they have had their Price Cutting plan in place for 2-3 years now.

It was probably always part of the bigger picture so they most likely already have the next 2-3 years of price drops in place along with whatever else they cut cost on.

[Chevalier]

No they'll just add value by giving you downloadable games. Like here in Canada where if you buy a PS4 you get The Last of Us DLC code bundled in.

[wsoutlaw87]

probably next e3 they will either do a price cut or throw a bigger hdd in and boost sales in the summer. They cant risk having the xbo ever be any cheaper than the ps4

[BX81]

Yeah this is great for Sony as a company. This gives them a bigger profit off of the ps4. After all the articles of Sony loosing money as a whole it's good to know you have a product that delivers and just got cheaper to make. I would also like to see a holiday price drop but I don't think it'll happen. I think were more likely to see bundles. Either way it's good for gamers.

[sprinterboy]

Probably gamescom 2015 for a price cut

[PeaSFor]

lol, i highly doubt it would happen, its WAYYYY too soon, but droping it to 389-379$ would be interesting.(and see MS reaction)

[Volkama]

2015 isn't that soon...

[FarEastOrient]

What you'll see is crazy Black Friday deals this November for both companies.

[PeaSFor]

crazy Black Friday?
nah, its gonna be a brack friday bunduru.

[thedisavowed]

We can only hope, dream and beg

[Becuzisaid]

They are the fastest selling console of all time. Why would they cut the price?

[Christopher]

To stay that way when MS cuts the price of the XBO this Holiday season.

[PrinceOfAllSaiyans]

Good for Sony. Lots of great news for them lately. profiting from Playstation, having the best TV's on the market, and soon to have the best phone on the market when the Z2 releases.

[chrisarsenalsavart]

Z2 is already out your month's now.

[fOrlOnhOpe57]

Yep. The Z3 is heavily rumoured to be available late this year/early next year, here in Europe :)

[Christopher]

Not in North America :(

Edit: Well, not in the U.S. at least. I think one carrier is going to finally get it in September.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

You mean the Z3.

[kreate]

Idk about the tv and phone comment but i'll take PlayStation.

[ThatOneGuyThere]

other than the Z2, there really isnt a phone that matches the Z1s overall. i mean, its got a killer camera, super fast quad core, tons of ram, completely waterproof, FM radio, NFC, playstation certified, etc. There are other phones with some of these features, but none with ALL of these features. Oh and the screen is a 1080p bravia that puts out actual colors. not that cheap acid trip crap LG and Samsung seem to think is impressive.

[kreate]

@thatoneguythere

ic.... so Z1 is the best phone out there?
im just asking so i can go buy one.
i never looked into sony phones.

always been using iphones, htc, samsung, and LG phones.

i was thinking about getting a windows phone but havent got around to it yet.

[Mikelarry]

Very good news for them indeed, hopefully with the price cut it would give others that extra push to own a ps4.

[Baszs]

I don't care much for a price-cut i rather see them putting the money on the development and publishing table instead. Although they have a nice system, it's lacking some exclusives and OS updates, which is a shame if you ask me. Not working with EA's Access is a also a weird move.

I mean they did a good move with Mark Cerny on a hardware level, but they aint putting money on their software side of things..

[chrisarsenalsavart]

Don't worry about the games,
They 're coming. At list they don't release half baked games like EA.
They give time to the developers to reach their vision. Like Nintendo

[700p]

Those half baked games sell though...

[Aceman18]

@700p

And that's the problem we have in this industry now. Ppl probably like you who continue to support that practice causing a company like EA to do what they continually do release unfinished games.

[700p]

@ace well those half baked games from EA are fun. Dead Space,Dragon age,Mass effect,Battlefield. Good games.

[OrangePowerz]

@700p

Mass Effect is fun.

Dead Space was butchered with Dead Space 3 and I fear Mirrors Edge will also be butchered to make it more mainstream and accessible.

BF4 was (is) a broken mess that wasn't fun at alland rage inducing and subsequently killed some of my hype for Battlefront. Hardline is a full price expansion pack/DLC.

Dragon Age could be fun.

[Kayant]

"Dead Space,Dragon age,Mass effect,Battlefield" and only one of those titles have been released on next-gen yet and was broken for a large amount of it's launch and SP was said to be terrible. The other one is coming soon your argument isn't appreciable.

[Aceman18]

@700p

I'll give you ME and DA as I love both franchises, but both weren't as broken or incomplete as their other games.

Plus as happy as I am to hear of a sequel to Mirrors Edge I'm now afraid of how it's going to be development wise.

[wsoutlaw87]

why do i care if they sell. Everyone who buys them ends up complaining about how they ruin sequels, let microtransactions kill the game, and are broken. They always have the worst servers. Thier sports games have always lagged like crazy. Just look at all the crap with sim city, battlefield, and mass effect 3. Dragon age 2 was also messed up. EA makes bad games but has good marketing.

[fei-hung]

You have to remember, their games have been delayed and one has been scrapped due to money just being fished away by the dev team.

Until we know the cost of PSNOW and if they will be a subscription option, EA Access may not be all that great an option.

Further more, do we know yet what games people will get and how long they will be able to keep them for? If they change the game after a month and you can no longer play it, it will be pointless for those who play games like Fifa, NBA, NHL etc throughout the year.

And although the X1 has received more updates, it isn't any better off in terms of having basic features. Both consoles still lack mp3 playback, folders, etc.

[Volkama]

Do you own a PS4? If you already own a PS4 then I wouldn't expect you to care about a price cut. I don't own a PS4 (I very very nearly bought one last week though!), so I'd be quite interested in a price cut or some good game pack-ins.

I agree with your comment though, it wasn't the price that turned me away from buying one. Games are the best way into my living room.

[SpideySpeakz]

EAA is a waste of money and will conflicts with PS+.
Sony made the right move.

[jcnba28]

If you think EAA is a waste of money I'd love to hear your thoughts on PS Now?

[Ron_Danger]

Waste of money?! What are you talking about?! I'd love to pay $30 a year so I can play games 5 days early and if I like them, I'll gladly pay $54 (10% discount oh boy!!!!) for the digital version (who needs to trade in games for credit these days??)

/s

@jcn
Here are my personal thoughts on PS Now (speaking as someone who personally took part in all of the closed PS now betas): as of now (on it's current BETA state) the prices are high. However, considering the future goal is to have the entire ps1 and ps2 library at your finger tips, I'll gladly pay a few bucks for nostalgia (especially to play classics like Einhander, Bloody Roar, Dino Crysis, etc). In it's current state, there aren't enough EA games to honestly consider EAA a good deal, especially since sports games aren't my thing.

[Omegasyde]

Wait until they make DLC exclusive for EA access subscribers......

Just look at how Battlefield premium works now. 10$ discount and 2-3 week early access to dlc.

And if EA proves succesful.... Guess who else will copy in thier steps.. Unbisoft activision,etc.

Thats when we start paying for subs instead of games, meaning game release day 1 with little content...Why bother??

[ThatOneGuyThere]

everyone seems to forget the primary function of PSNow. it will allow customers without playstations to access a large portion of the playstation experience through their TVs. This will be a pretty good selling point for Bravias going forward if they advertise it.

For the gamer who has a PS3, PS2, and a PS1 with a huge library of games, PSNow offers nothing. But guess what? Its not supposed to. For the grandparents who are considering purchasing a new TV. Which TV are you going to get? the one that can entertain your grandkids or??? After all, lets not forget that a HUGE portion of Wii sales were from grandparents and parents who bought them as a pop-culture entertainment option for their kids and grandkids. The hardcore audience was pretty small in comparison. Its going to be a pretty big deal when they get the subscription pricing in place. Who knows, a cable provider might offer an entertainment bundle with PS Now access. The marketing possibilities with PSNow are almost limitless.

Now lets look at what EAA offers. you pay 30$ a year. Great price, that doesnt even effect my finances. However, what am I getting with that? Old games that are lacking in relevance. A huge portion of EA's games are yearly titles that are only worth playing while they are relevant. Who is going to want to play last year's madden? Who will play BF4 when Hardline comes out? You still have to buy all of the expansions? If its vanilla BF4 there arent going to be many servers for you. EA is doing this for the sole purpose of selling all digital copies where they make a bigger % of money from sales. period.

[wsoutlaw87]

why is it compared to psnow. psnow is a streaming service where you can play games that are for a system you dont even have. EAA is just a membership discount card that cost 30$ a year.

[MrSec84]

Obviously the OS feature updates are incoming, with the 3D Bluray playback the other day, more are coming down the line.

As for games, Driveclub's coming this October, LBP3 (while not a full on PS4 exclusive, is a Playstation exclusive).
Let's not also forget 3 major AAA exclusive, PS4 games coming early next year, with The Order 1886 in Feb, Bloodborne shortly after and also Ratchet & Clank.

Uncharted 4's on it's way later next year, but that could be any time, be it in the first half or the second.

It's well known that major studios like Quantic Dream, Media Molecule, Guerrilla Games & Sony Bend are all working on new IPs, other studios are working on new games for existing franchises, so there's your financial investment in software.

Considering 13 studios in the Playstation division have been confirmed to be working on AAA games for the console that's some pretty huge investment on Sony's part, not to forget that a large number of Sony's studios have more than one team.

A new studio called Dinosaurum Games has a new IP called Without Memory.

How Sony can be seen as "not putting money on their software side of things" is about as far from the truth as things can get.

They probably have more exclusives in development than any other console manufacturer.

[Jaqen_Hghar]

A man would almost guarantee that uncharted is a holiday release next year. Naughty dog only ever had one delay and that was for 1 month on last of us.

[wsoutlaw87]

some people say something like "ps4 has no games" and it just sticks in everyones head and its tough to get rid of that label. I find it crazy because if bloodborne and the order came out 3 months earlier in 2014, you know everyone would be like omg sony has sooo many games.

[Baszs]

Good games or not! My interest is in the fact that Sony
has to put more money into their service and software.
Instead of making the console cheaper. They are finally earning
money off the Ps4, and that will continue even at the price that
they are asking from us. But instead of just profiting from a sold console, let them
put some more love into their machine 'FOR" the consumer and the 'PLAYER'

Don't get me wrong, but aside the powerfull hardware they lack
service and features through out the console's lifecycle.
Look at the ps3 they never even thought about updating their OS into something modern.

let's put it like this.. Sony only likes to improve it's products hardware.

[Bennibop]

That's is great news for SOny and the consumer, it will mean a price drop sooner and/ or better value bundles

[Cryptcuzz]

Sony are masters at creating electronics hardware. They are a hardware company at heart and will continue to be so. So they are well experience in creating reliable/quality hardware that are decades in the making to reach that level of expertise and experience. No wonder I am not surprised they have already found ways to cut costs on the PS4 to maximize profit with the PS4 even more.

I hope Sony have learned from past mistakes and do not get complacent, for the competition is just as hungry and persistent in preventing them to become the hardware leader they once were.

[lfc_4eva]

Sony don't make the hardware dude. They buy from many other companies and then get other companies to build the ps4 for them.

[Spotie]

Sony designed- or Cerny, anyway- nearly every part IN the PS4. Essentially, however, they commissioned other places to make the parts.

There are a very few number of parts inside the PS4 that you can just go somewhere and grab.

[RegorL]

The hardware built into PS4 is according to Sonys specifications. Same is true for XBox One.

Sony did a much better work this time!

MS: GDDR memory is expensive, lets keep on chip memory (eSRAM), we have to cut away parts of the GPU to keep the chip size withing economical constraints.

Sony: GPGPU is the future (SPU replacement), lets improve that aspect. GDDR memory will become affordable, lets put only GDDR memory controlers on chip

Result: Sonys chip is smaller thus cheaper, GDDR prices will drop, MS is stuck with their reduced GPU.

[MasterCornholio]

With the way the PS4 is selling means that they won't have to cut the price anytime soon. With a decrease in manufacturing costs means that their profit margin on each unit will increase. This is very good news for Sony and I'm happy that it happened.

[SynestheticRoar]

Great news. I wish them all the best.

[Ninver]

Great news indeed. Here's to a bright future for the ps4.

[nevin1]

I wouldn't be surprised for a price cut sometime next year.

Software is still the main source of revenue.

[Predaking77]

Oh oh, this is bad news for those Sony bankruptcy cult preachers.

[kenshiro100]

Oh yeah. They're probably frothing at the mouth right now.

This is really good news though. It means that Sony will be able to cut the price in the future.

[lemoncake]

To be expected from mid level non exotic tech, in a couple of years the production cost will be very little.

[Emanno]

I'm glad to see this movement of cut down. PS + Xperia phones = greatness

[CPTN MITCHELL]

I love my xperia z1s

[thejigisup]

I expect that Sony will reveal some new numbers at gamescom or tgs at the minimum. Can't wait to see what my Sony stock is at after this holiday season.

[Macdaddy71]

No they sell you the Same game Twice on diff system, what's sad Sony fans buy them, lmfao lmfao

[Revengeance]

Uh oh. This is HORRIBLE news... for Xbox fanboys. You know they gotta be mad because they need something to preach about and this certainly isn't helping them.

[DirtyLary]

Newegg has the PS4 for $359.00 now. I was wonder why I got such a good price.

[DirtyLary]

and it took 1 day to get here, free shipping. Damn

[Bearksninn34535]

Can you share a link?
http://www.newegg.com/Produ...
The cheapest seems to be $393 delivered. Is there a discount code or something?

[DirtyLary]

www.ebay.com/itm/380959771803

Its the NEWEGG EBAY STORE

[Clarence]

This could be bad news for the xbone. A PS4 price cut could really crush the xbone.

[user7402931]

nice

[MCTJim]

as with any item that is manufactured, engineering controls will always be there to cut production costs somewhere. Does this translate for savings for the consumer. Nope, just more or less cuts the cost to manufacture the units. Profit margins just go up for the companies creator.

[Flames76]

Now the PS4 is where the Xbox One was the day it shipped making money

[Skankinruby]

Lol at it best moment X1 profited maybe ten more dollars per console than ps4. An argument immediately squashed with the game/console bundles they almost immediately resorted to. Nice try though

[stloony]

Given the way Sony has built and marketed the PS4 it is obvious they have learned much through their experiences with PS1-3. The lessons have taught them much about when to take the hit in hardware sales, when to do prices cuts, when to expect the big profits which is their main goal.

It would not surprise me that even though the PS4 has a good lead on their main competitor, they know that profit can still be increased in the future by taking even more hardware hits even while being ahead.

Sony is not aiming to be the just the winner of the gen of consoles. They are aiming at being 'The' console of this gen.

Look forward to holiday bundles and it would not surprise me to see a PS4 system price cut of $50 this year. If they get under $399 and become cheaper than their competitor they will not just win this holiday season in sales, they will dominate.

Sony and their shareholders have seen enough to know that to take a loss in hardware sales at this point would end in greater profits. In the past, this was seen as risky or premature, but they have learned much about us gamers and how things work out in the end.

[Muzikguy]

This is awesome news! I doing we will see a price drop before the next holiday, if even then. Sony will want to get all the money they can for as long as they can. As long as they keep selling, they can do that. Fine with me, I'm happy with my purchase!

[Ihatetrolls76]

I hope sony does a price drop or bundle in a really good game I was going to buy a ps4 at the end of the month but I might wait a few more months to see what happens

[TheOnlyMastrx]

Price cut, bundled with a game, we will surely see something happen during the holiday season this year. I think if we do see bundles with games probably be TLoU remastered bundle, or GTA5 bundle.

[1Victor]

A Nooooooooo Cry Just Woke Me Up I Think It Was (insert Hardcore MS Fanboy Name Here)

[DaleCooper]

Great for Sony! Now where's my price cut ;)

[HmongAmerican]

Still waiting for the slim version. I am not missing out on any game at the moment.

[darkesthour4]

I dont think there will be a price cut for another year and a half unless the sales begin slow at a consistent pace before then or xbox gains a lot of ground on the ps4.

[Paprika]

Tbh I'm just shocked this isn't from dualshockers this article! Seems N4G is n4gbydualshockers

[bligmerk]

Gamescom is in two weeks. Sony has usually chosen Gamescom for at least one major hardware announcement, like a Slim. Then, usually a couple weeks after Gamescom, they do a $50 price drop. Sony has historically done $50 price drops. The one skill that gamers fail generationally to appreciate about Sony is they are an engineering company and they constantly streamline production processes so operating costs are decreased more and more over several years.

[chaosx]

Why would the cut the price? its still selling well and Sony want the profit.

[Kaiou]

Black Friday $299 incoming . Might finally get one for Bloodborne.

[tubers]

I guess we'll have a $ 349 MSRP PS4 within 2 year :P

Good stuff.

[Adolph Fitler]

I just hope Sony stop putting great developers onto crap projects, such as Singstar & Home, & get them making the great games, in massive abundance, that they used to in PS1 & PS2 era.... teams like Cambridge Studios, of Medievil, Primal & Ghosthunter fame, who were NEVER given a chance to shine on PS3..... same with Team Soho of The Getaway fame. And I hope they start rebuilding some of there greatest franchises in console history, like Socom, Wipeout, etc, & I equally hope, they rebuild the teams that made them, as much as they possibly can... Also, they could help fund & promote, market & advertise the hell out of a new Warhawk, Ratchet, Resistance & a bunch more that are synonomous with PS fans, in return for FULL exclusive rights... The PS1 catalogue alone, they could do this with is amazing, like Tobal, Bloody Roar, Bushido Blade, Raystorm, Rage Racer, Einhander. Then moving to PS2, we could have a Capcom exclusive deal for the Onimusha series to continue on PS4, new Ghouls'n'Ghosts, & numerous PS2 games I'd love to see get a PS4 revision... A new Twisted Metal, with faultless online play would also be tear inducing for me. Medievil 3, Syphon Filter PS4, The Getaway 3.5, or even better + 8 Days, Warhawk 2, Zone Of The Enders 3, KZ:Liberation 2 on Vita... Sony needs to ramp up games, as the more games, & more diversity in genres, the better for sales, from the hardcore crowds that are buying now, & are looking for more than just COD, Fifa, Madden & NBA yearly updates.

[GeraltofRivia]

I know the PS4 hardware is all "next gen" super awesome new stuff. However being that the PS4 and xbox one max out out 1080p visuals doesn't that mean it is basically the equivalent of a decent 6 year old gaming pc? I will probably buy a ps4 for the great exclusives. To any pc gamers who also play console games, would you say the PS4 running games at 1080p looks just as good as a pc running a game maxed out at highest settings at 1080p?

[Bearksninn34535]

Console gaming isn't about having the beast-est $3000 hardware, it's about software optimisation.
It's true multiplats are either the same or better on PC if you have decent hardware, so if you're genuinely asking if PC can do better graphics, yes it can.
Not all multiplats are better on PC though, some don't perform well. If you only care about the ultimate graphics then PC is the way to go.

This is all off topic anyway, you should ask elsewhere.

I don't think it really matters how much power the console has, I'm sure Uncharted 4 will look amazing regardless of whether the same thing or better can be achieved with a very expensive gaming rig.

[Mithan]

Great news. Now, I hope they can come out with a smaller size then I will buy it.

[R00bot]

Am I the only one not surprised or impressed by this? No? Ok.

[Bearksninn34535]

I wonder if this means the consoles sell at a profit now.
Sony used to lose something like $60 per console sold. (which of course isn't that bad if people who buy the console buy games and accessories)
Maybe they'll sell consoles at neither a loss nor a profit, like the Xbox One.

Either way, this means Sony can drop the price if they wanted to, and if they don't then that's more money that will hopefully go towards making the platform better.
I imagine Sony will wait for the right time before dropping the price for consumers if they do. They're already not making much money from the Playstation brand.

[DARK_SOLDIER101]

i not surprised by this step because the hardware they provide out of date
and not worth all that amount of money

i sure they are making money from this Old tech