Sony will cut the price of the PlayStation 4 Pro this holiday season in order to remain competitive with the Xbox One X and Nintendo Switch, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter has said.
Speaking to GamingBolt, Pachter says the format holder will slash its high-end console to $349 in North America and will also cut the price of the regular PS4 model to just $249.
PS4 Pro price cut incoming?
“I don’t think Microsoft is all that competitive,” said Pachter. “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.”
The PS4 Pro launched in November 2016 and allows users to experience games with a number of performance enhancements, including 4K resolution and improved frame rate. Microsoft’s new console, the Xbox One X, is due out this fall and is a far more powerful machine than the Xbox One S, though much like the PS4 Pro will not have exclusive software.
While the majority of the PS4 triple A exclusives are coming out next year, Sony still has a number of high-profile titles due to ship in 2017, including Uncharted: The Lost Legacy and Gran Turismo Sport in August and October, respectively.
PS5 release date prediction
Pachter has previously commented that Sony’s next-generation home console will likely arrive in stores in 2019 with PS4 Pro backwards compatibility. The analyst noted that instead of countering the Xbox One X with a new console, Sony will instead wait until 4K TV adoption has taken off before releasing fresh hardware.
Elsewhere, Stardock boss Brad Wardell has said that the industry is likely to achieve photo realistic graphics with the current crop of consoles, believing it isn’t necessary something that will be met exclusively with the PS5.