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Hang on a minute? The latest Xbox Series X reports had told us that the new Xbox console was going to be cheaper than the Sony PS5 when released in November 2020.
Those reports had been based on unsubstantiated comments from Reddit poster Dusk Golem, who apparently has been hearing insider information that not only was the Xbox Series X “far more powerful than the PS5” but that “Microsoft is ready to lowball Sony when it comes to price” of the console.
A more powerful console that was also cheaper? Sounds too good to be true.
Well, a brand new leak has just indicated that it could very well have been too good to be true, after all.
That’s because, as surfaced on Twitter by user @THTHEREDDRAGON, massively respected games industry writer, host, and actor Alanah Pearce states that she has been sent a picture from a source at a retailer that shows that the price of the Xbox Series X is actually $599.
Alanah Pearce says someone sent her a photo from a retail store computer showing Xbox Series X price of $599 pic.twitter.com/etWxdhPtd3
— THE RED DRAGON (@TWTHEREDDRAGON) August 15, 2020
$599. Now that is not cheap. Indeed, it is the disastrously high price point that the Sony PS3 was launched in the United States, and we all know how badly that went.
It was a price that was so high that it crippled the PS3’s launch in terms of sales and left Microsoft an open goal to go ahead and win the console generation, which it proceeded to do by a country mile with its Xbox 360 console.
So, if this leak is true, and Microsoft is going to “lowball Sony when it comes to price”, is Sony’s PS5 going to retail for even more than $599? That doesn’t seem right to us at T3 at all. Why would Sony, who has been burnt once before by a $599 price point, then proceed to launch a console that costs even more?
The truth is, Sony wouldn’t unless it was trying to commit console gen seppuku.
With that eventuality discounted, that leaves three likely things possible. Firstly, the $599 price point isn’t accurate, and the Xbox Series X will retail for less than that. The second possibility is that, actually, the PS5 and Xbox Series X will cost the same amount, be that $599 or (more likely) less than $599. And thirdly, and most worryingly for Xbox gamers, is that the Xbox Series X will cost more than the PS5.
Could the Xbox Series X be launched at a higher price point than the PS5, with the Xbox system put on the market for $599 while the PS5 launches at $499? Absolutely, as it is technically on paper the more powerful console. However, with Xbox still reeling from a brutal beatdown in the PS4/Xbox One console gen, we’re not convinced one jot that pricing the Xbox Series X above the PS5 is wise.
Microsoft needs to claw back install base share this generation, and while the all-digital Xbox Series S will almost certainly help in that regard, to have your flagship console massively outsold by the competition due to a sky-high price point will definitely not help.
Right now, the pricing and release dates of all the next-gen consoles remain up in the air, so here at T3, we advise gamers to take this latest leak with a big pinch of salt. Official prices for the PS5, PS5 Digital Edition, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S will likely arrive soon, so until then we’re going to keep our fingers crossed and just look forward to playing great Xbox Series X games and PS5 games.
