There are many speculations and discussions around the launch of next-gen consoles of Xbox Series X and PS5. Both Microsoft and Sony have kept the price and its release dates still a secret. In addition, due to the ongoing Coronavirus crisis, it is creating new challenges for the products to be released worldwide.
In one such case, there is an analyst who is anticipating the greatest recession that is going to happen this year and which will also affect the gaming industry. This analyst believes that the problems imposed by this recession in the gaming community will only become apparent after the release of the next-gen consoles.
According to the analyst, Piers Harding-Rolls from Ampere Analysis, it is expected that the impact of COVID-19 will definitely impact the gaming industry in the short and long term. He is also expecting that the next-gen consoles of Microsoft and Sony will release sometime in November 2020 with a price ranging between $450- $499, even if there are delays in the retail markets and game development.
In that sense the analyst has stated the following in his report:
We expect the new Sony and Microsoft consoles to be launched in November 2020 if they are not delayed due to component supply chain or game development bottlenecks. We also expect them to launch at a price point of $450-$499. We believe it is inevitable that a recession will undermine sales to an extent, but that any impact will be more signicantly felt later in 2021 once the initial early adopter launch surge ends. As both new consoles will support backwards compatibility and most new third party games over the next 18 months will also support the older generation of consoles, consumers impacted by a downturn may not feel the need to upgrade as early as they may have.
We expect Microsoft’s Xbox All Access initiative – spreading the cost of console hardware and bundling it with services for a monthly subscription – to be used from launch of the Xbox Series X in select territories. These sort of exible go-to-market approaches will be important for supporting adoption during a recession.
Do you think that PS5 and Xbox Series X will be sold at a price between $450- $499?
