Playstation 5 Price: Sony Surprises By Matching Xbox [Infographic]

Towards the end of Sony’s September PS5 livestream, the company provided pricing information for its new Playstation 5, which is set for release in North America in November. The console will come in two iterations – one with a disc drive costing $499 and a second digital edition with a $399 price tag. The information was roughly in line with predictions though it has surprised some industry observers who expected Sony to undercut its rival like it had done when the Playstation 4 faced off against the Xbox One back in 2013. This time around, however, the PS5 with a disc drive will cost exactly the same amount as the Xbox Series X when both machines hit the U.S. market later this year.

At $299, the Xbox Series S is still the cheapest new console on the horizon and together with Microsoft’s MSFT Xbox Game Pass subscription service, it could prove a very attractive option for gamers seeking affordable access to a next generation console. Affordability comes at a cost in this case though and the Series S is at the lower end of the specification list, offering less powerful components and lower-resolution graphics than the Series X. Sony is likely to still feel confident ahead of what should prove a mammoth holiday season sales battle due to its library of exclusive and hotly demanded titles such as Final Fantasy XVI, Gran Turismo 7 and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales.

This infographic provides a historical pricing overview of Playstation and Xbox consoles when they hit the North American market. When the Playstation 2 and first generation Xbox arrived at the turn of the century, both cost $299 before a considerable price gap opened up with both versions of the Playstation 3 considerably more expensive than the Xbox 360. As mentioned above, it was the Xbox One that became the pricier proposition in 2013 before Sony announced that pricing parity had once again been achieved ahead of the newest generation arriving in late 2020.

*Click below to enlarge (charted by Statista)

Historical U.S. launch prices of Playstation and Xbox consoles.

Statista