14 DAY TRIAL // Sony's UK division confirms that it's quite thrilled that the price of the PlayStation 4 console hasn't gone down ever since its debut back in November of 2013, as these reductions don't end up helping its efforts, even if they are beneficial to the consumer.
The PS4 and Xbox One consoles both launched during November of 2013 in many countries around the world. While the two home devices had a pretty simultaneous release, their prices differed by a pretty big margin, as the Xbox One had an initial asking fee of 500 USD (459 EUR) while the PS4 was priced at 400 USD (367 EUR).
Since then, Microsoft has lowered the price to 400 USD and even took it further down to 350 USD (321 EUR). Meanwhile, Sony hasn't budged and it is still sticking to the 400 USD asking price.
No discount for the PS4 just yet as Sony is thrilled with the current price
Don't expect this to change anytime soon, as Sony UK boss Fergal Gara tells MCV that his team is thrilled that the PS4 has the same price as when it launched two years ago.
According to Gara, engaging in price wars with Microsoft can be quite dangerous and it ends up hurting Sony overall, despite being beneficial to consumers.
"Any price war in any sector in any market can be dangerous," Gara says. "If there is a race to zero, who wins from that? We are proud that we managed to launch at a very competitive price, and demand has held up very strongly for PS4. Therefore, our RRP on day one is our RRP today. Yes, there are promotions that offer consumers better value from time-to-time, but it’s great that we managed to start at such a great price and it has held well."
Given that Sony's PS4 still has a commanding lead on the Xbox One and that its sales figures are still on par with Microsoft's lower-priced console, don't expect a surprise price cut at E3 2015 next month.