Price speculation is an integral part of the hype cycle for any significant piece of tech, and Sony's impending reveal of the PS5 price is no exception.
The push and pull of high price to low price is like a fiscal rollercoaster leading us all the way to whatever price the company decides to announce, whenever they feel like announcing it.
Yesterday we reported on a price that suggested the PS5 would be an eye-wateringly high price.
Well, this time we've got a report on a price that seems just a smidge too good to be true.
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As originally noted by NotebookCheck, a Canadian retailer has started taking pre-orders for the next-generation Sony console.
The retailer, called Play N Trade VI, posted on their Facebook about accepting pre-orders. In fact, they were so excited they shouted about it:
"HEY GUYS THE PLAY N TRADE FAMILY HAS VERY EXCITING NEWS AND I WANTED TO TELL YOU AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. WE ARE OFFICIALLY TAKING PRE ORDERS FOR THE MUCH ANTICIPATED PLAYSTATION 5!! THE FIRST WAVE OF SALES IS LIMITED TO 2 PER HOUSEHOLD, AND WE ARE OFFERING FREE SHIPPING NATIONWIDE ON ALL ORDERS PROCESSED BETWEEN NOW AND APRIL 20 2020. WE ARE ACCEPTING ORDERS AT WWW.PLAYNTRADEVI.COM. BEST WISHES TO ALL AND STAY SAFE."
The enthusiasm is understandable, so we'll forgive them for our blown-out eardrums.
There's no price there, but in the thread, they've responded to someone saying "we're taking preorders at $559 with a final quarter 2020 release date. Thx".
Now, that's Canadian dollars we're talking about which, at the time of writing, equates to just under £320. Which would make it around £80 cheaper than the PS4 was at launch. This is, to be honest, probably not right at all.
What will the PS5 price be?
In all likelihood, the technology inside the PS5, the stuff we saw a couple of weeks ago, means that a price like this would be a sizeable loss per unit for Sony.
While selling items as a loss leader (a product sold at a loss but one that generates profit by encouraging other purchases) isn't uncommon, it's not likely to be sold at such a massive loss.
The most likely outcome in this whole PS5 cost thing is that it falls somewhere between yesterday's price prediction and today's. It's likely to be between £400 and £600.
Most successful console launches have been around the £400 mark, with any console that costs more than that generally not being anywhere near as successful. Hopefully, we'll find out soon when Sony decides to give us a firm PS5 price.