Prices for the PS5 Pro have not had a “negative impact” on sales, Sony’s president says
Sony has said that the pricing of the newly launched PlayStation 5 Pro has not negatively impacted console sales. While the company has not revealed initial sales figures for the PS5 Pro, it believes that PS5 Pro sales will not be a “major contributor” to overall PS5 sales as it was a high-end console that focused on “hardcore” users. The PS5 Pro launched in select markets on November 7 for a price of $699.99.
PS5 Pro price has no ‘negative impact’ on sales
The comments came from Sony President Hiroki Totoki at the company earnings call for the second quarter of fiscal 2024 on Friday. In the question and answer session during the briefing, Totoki responded to a question about PS5 Pro prices, saying that sales of PS5 Pro units were included in the company’s projections for total PS5 sales in the current fiscal year . Sony expects to sell 18 million units of the console in fiscal 2024.
“PS5 Pro is quite high-end. Hardcore users are the target of this hardware. So we haven’t built in a major contribution. And compared to the PS5, I think it’s even stronger,” Totoki said during the earnings call.
“As for the price, a lot of people have made different comments about that, but the price for PS5 Pro I don’t think has had a negative impact,” he added.
PS5 Pro launch
First announced in September, the PS5 Pro 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: PS5 Pro has a suggested retail price of $699.99 (approximately Rs. 58,750) in the US. In the UK the console costs GBP 699.99, while in the EU and Japan it costs EUR 799.99 and JPY 119,980 (including tax) respectively.
Despite the high price, the upgraded console does not come standard with a disc drive. Customers can purchase an attachable disc drive separately for $79.9, further increasing the price of the console for users who want to play physical media, both games and movies, on the console.
On Friday, Sony also confirmed that the PS5 Pro had 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 6GHz spectrum band, which has not yet been allocated in India.
