Although Sony has had a great 2017 so far, the PS4 has no major AAA exclusive games penned for release this Q4, except Gran Turismo Sport. In a way, Gran Turismo Sport has a huge responsibility of pushing the PS4 sales further for all the important Holiday season. Things become even more challenging if one puts Forza Motorsport 7 into the equation.
So the PS4 may not be getting as many Holiday exclusives as the Nintendo Switch or even the Xbox One this Holiday- but against the latter, at least, it should have no problem holding its own, according to Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter. Pachter believes that despite having just one big exclusive, Sony will counter the Xbox One X and Switch by dropping the PS4 and PS4 Pro’s price.
‘I don’t think Microsoft is all that competitive,’ Pachter said. ‘Xbox One S is priced the same as the PS4, and I don’t think they are competitive at all with the Xbox One X, currently priced at $100 more than the PS4 Pro, and highly likely to be priced $150 more than the PS4 Pro by Holiday. My guess is, Sony will cut the everyday PS4 price to $249, and the PS4 Pro price to $349 this Holiday, and Microsoft will be too expensive, so Sony will keep its price advantage this Holiday.’
A price cut sounds like the simplest, easiest thing Sony can do to cushion the impact of the Xbox One X- plus, doing so will also make the differences between the PS4 Pro and the Xbox One X less pronounced, since they will be priced appropriately, too. It would definitely be a smart move for Sony.
