A new report has stated that Sony may have had to scramble to reduce pricing on the PlayStation 5 following Microsoft’s announcement that the Xbox Series X will sell at $499.
Recent rumors placed the currently unknown price of the PlayStation 5 disc drive version at a massive $599, which would make it $100 more expensive than its chief rival. During a holiday season where the global economy is still being rocked by the COVID-19 pandemic, that would be a major deciding factor for a lot of shoppers.
The same report went on to say that they have heard rumors that the pricing for the PlayStation 5 will now be $399 for the digital only version and $499 for the Blu-ray console. Of course, these prices are far from confirmed, and this should be taken as a rumor for now.
A $399 price tag on the digital only version of the console would put it more than $100 over the Xbox Series S, which was announced as being a very reasonable $299.
It also appears as though Amazon may have unintentionally leaked some release information for the PlayStation 5. Listings for the PS5 DualSense charging station and the PS5 Pulse 3D wireless headset have appeared on the Japanese version of the popular ecommerce platform.
These listings had a date of purchase for November 20, which might mean that the console will release in Japan on that day. It’s unknown whether the console will release everywhere at the same time or go through a staggered release. It was recently rumored that the PlayStation 5 would release in North America first followed by the rest of the world.
This was brought on by a now removed YouTube video, which stated that the North American release was Holiday 2020 while the rest of the world was getting the console in late 2020.
Still though, if November 20 is going to be the Japanese release date, that seems more Holiday 2020 than late 2020.
We’re likely going to be getting answers this week. Sony has announced a digital reveal event for the PlayStation 5 on Wednesday, September 16 at 4 p.m. EST. It is highly possible that this will be when Sony makes the grand reveal of their console’s pricing and release date. With Xbox opening preorders on September 22, there’s no way that Sony is going to let that go unchallenged.
If preorders open for the Series X and Series S with no announced pricing or release for the PS5, Sony would be handing Microsoft a huge early advantage in this Holiday season’s console war.
