Sony said that the prices of the recently released PlayStation 5 Pro did not have a negative impact on sales of the consoles. Although the company has not released initial PS5 Pro sales figures, it believes that PS5 Pro sales will not have a “large contribution” to overall PS5 sales, given that it is a high-end console aimed at “hardcore” users. The PS5 Pro was launched in select markets on November 7 for $699.99.
The price of the PS5 Pro has no “negative impact” on sales
This was announced by Sony President Hiroki Totoki during the company’s earnings report for the second quarter of fiscal year 2024 on Friday. During a question-and-answer session at the briefing, Totoki responded to questions about PS5 Pro pricing, saying that PS5 Pro unit sales were included in the company’s projections for overall PS5 sales for the current fiscal year. Sony expects to sell 18 million units of the console in fiscal year 2024.
“PS5 Pro is quite high-end. Heavy users are the target for this hardware. So we don’t have much to contribute. And compared to the PS5, I think it’s actually stronger,” Totoki said during the earnings call.
“In terms of price – a lot of people have made different comments about it, but the price of the PS5 Pro has not had a negative impact, I don’t think,” he added.
Launching the PS5 Pro
The PS5 Pro, first announced in September, was finally launched last week in select markets such as the US, UK, EU and Japan. The console’s high price has drawn criticism since its announcement — the PS5 Pro’s suggested retail price in the US is $699.99 (roughly Rs. 58,750). The console is priced at £699.99 in the UK, €799.99 in the EU and ¥119,980 (tax included) in the EU and Japan respectively.
Despite the high price, the updated set-top box does not come with a disk drive out of the box. Customers can purchase an attached disc drive separately for $79.9, which further increases the console’s price for users who intend to play physical media, both games and movies, on the console.
Sony also confirmed on Friday that the PS5 Pro has not been launched in India due to the government’s telecom policy in the country. The new console supports Wi-Fi 7 (IEEE 802.11be), which uses the 6 GHz spectrum band, which has not yet been allocated in India.