PS4 Launch Price Will Cost Sony Money Thanks to the Yen
Sony announced they are anticipating the PS4 to initially launch at a loss because of the fluctuation of different currencies around the globe and the technologies used to create the system.
Sony reported great losses in 2006 when the PS3 launched and does not believe the PS4's launch will be nearly as bad. In fact, they said actual console sales did not see a profit until almost 3 1/2 years later reports Digital Trends.
"We will not generate anything like the losses we did for the PlayStation 3," said Sony CEO, Andrew House.
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The losses are generated due to the cost of manufacturing the consoles and the research that goes into making them more efficient as time goes by. Also, the yen and the U.S. dollar used to be far apart, but now that they are approaching the same value, their profit margin shrinks.
Masaru Kato, CFO for Sony, explained to Digital Trends that the company is using a design that utilizes standard PC chips rather than the custom ones they rolled out for the PS3 that were much more expensive and in turn have kept the costs down.
The PS4 will retail for $400 and is expected anywhere from the end of October to around Black Friday. There have been so many rumors swirling about with the only thing certain being it will be before Christmas.
The PlayStation 4 will no longer be available for pre-order in the U.K. and may not be able to be ordered until after the launch.
"Please note– due to high demand, orders placed for this PlayStation 4 console from August 6 may be received after release date. We will ship orders as soon as we receive sufficient inventory," Amazon U.K. said in a statement.
Other places such as CVG are saying the shortage is a nationwide limitation, and PlayStation Lifestyle said there is a chance people will not have the system by Christmas.
"You can still pre-order PS4 with us in case we receive cancellations and can fulfill your order for launch," said U.K. retailer ShopTo to EuroGamer, citing that message was passed down from Sony to every European video game carrier.
Amazon stated they were selling around 2,500 consoles a minute during the E3 Conference. PS4 is currently in the no. 3 spot on Amazon U.K. for best-selling console.
