Sony rumored to be lowering PS5 price following Xbox Series X reveal

Will the PlayStation 5's price mirror its rival's?

Rumor mill: Now that Microsoft has finally revealed the all-important price and release date of its next-gen consoles, we’re waiting for Sony to do the same. According to a new rumor, the Japanese firm is responding to the Xbox Series X/S unveiling by dropping the price of its PS5 machines.

It’s long been rumored that the price of the PS5 has been a sticking point for Sony, with the expensive components pushing the MSRP higher and higher—one analyst claimed it would be $100 more than the Xbox Series X. It had even been reported that the expense could lead to Sony limiting the console’s initial production run.

Backing up some of those claims is Gamereactor, whose anonymous source says the PS5 was “considerably” more expensive than Microsoft’s rival machine.

With the Xbox Series X/S prices now unveiled, Sony has reportedly decided to cut the cost of both its machines. The discless PS5 could now arrive at $399, which is still more than the $299 all-digital Xbox Series S, while the standard version of the console will be $499, the same as the Xbox Series X.

“Anonymous sources” are far from reliable, so this should all be taken with a massive grain of salt, but tech firms altering the price of unreleased products based on the competition is nothing new.

We know the Xbox Series X has the PS5 beat when it comes to raw power, but Sony has lauded its custom SSD, which can shift compressed data at a maximum of 9 GB/s and 5.5 GB/s once decompressed, as truly special.

Specs alone don’t sell a console, of course—factors such as exclusive titles play a big part. According to a recent survey, 84% of gamers are more excited about the PS5 than the Xbox Series X. How much the price affects people’s opinions remains to be seen.