Looks like those amazing PlayStation 4 deals in the UK right now are part of a European-wide initiative to rain on the Nintendo Switch's parade. Alongside incredibly aggressive Horizon: Zero Dawn marketing, the platform holder seems eager to ensure that its competitor's new console doesn't catch-on too hard, announcing that the PS4 Slim will be available as low as €200 across continental Europe over the next couple of days.
So far there are deals announced for Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the abovementioned Britain – with more almost certain to follow. In addition to obstructing the Nintendo Switch, this also seems like a move designed to capitalise on the increased footfall in game stores, as well as to help promote Guerrilla Games' exclusive role-playing release. It's also almost the end of the fiscal year, and Sony still has that 20 million units milestone to achieve.
We've seen some people describe this move as "petty" and "shameless", but it's worth remembering that this is how business works. Sony has a great product already, and it's clearly not going to let a competitor waltz in and steal it's thunder; the company may not have anything to be concerned about at the end of the day, but if nothing else this should indicate that the manufacturer's not getting complacent like so many armchair analysts like to insist.
[source neogaf.com]
Comments 49
"We've seen some people describe this move as "petty" and "shameless"."
Christ.
Petty.
Smart move. To be fair I see many who are buying a Switch will probably own a PS4 or just be a Nintendo only person anyway. At least it'll be like this until holiday time anyway. I've got my Switch tomorrow, but then I've got a PS4, a PS4 Pro and an Xbox one S, along with Wii U and 2 3ds's, I'm not exactly a tough market for them to crack!
Personaly I think Switch's price is more shameless than Sony selling their console's at an even more affordable price. Switch is like £300 or so, without a game that's Shameless. If you want a half decent controller to play on it with, thats another £60 for the Pro (yes it's called Pro) controller, pretty damn shameless if you ask me. I really wanna play Zelda as well.
lol petty and shameless, it's just sound business, please anyone stating this fall off your high horse and go away. The price of the Nintendo peripherals is shameless.
How dare Sony try to be competitive. Shameless and petty!
@xMEADx Zelda takes up 50% of available internal memory, shameless.
it's just business! the Switch needs a price cut tbh...
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi So only enough memory for 2 decent sized game's then, shameless indeed at that price lol.
I think its the Horizon VS Zelda that also helped this.
Which I collected alot of bias post from Gamefaq >:3
Love how some think it's petty that Sony do this. Like their meant to give Nintendo a free shot at the market. Nintendo turning their backs on Sony back in the 90's was more shameless and petty then this.
Petty and shameless? Like wilfully underfilling stock levels, so that you create false scarcity?
Like charging £5+ for NES games? Have you seen their online subs model? Lend you 2 NES games a month?
Petty and shameless indeed.
Point of information : I'll probably buy a switch this Xmas if they don't Nintendo it up too badly
Oh, I forgot - you can add No Bundled Games and Price of Spare Joy Cons to that list.
Petty and shameless
To be clear, no one from Nintendo thinks this is "petty". It's just what I've seen some fans write on forums.
"Kicking 'em while they're down" could be another term applied.
Far be it from me to begrudge people getting a good deal on a PS4, but while a market leader deliberately selling their product at a loss to drive out a new entrant from the market may be good business, it's very doubtful whether it's ultimately consumer-friendly.
And yes, I know Nintendo hardly qualifies as a new entrant (though with their market share, they may as damn well be), but the broad strokes are the same.
@Fath
All games consoles traditionally sell at a loss. It's known in the industry as a 'loss leader'. It happens in other industries too
@CountFunkula78 True, but I should've expressed better that my point wasn't so much about selling strictly at a loss, but about the market leader taking on whatever new losses are necessary to drive the newcomer out. I may go back and edit sometime.
Sorry, but I want a PS4 Pro. :/
I pre ordered a Switch anyway, really excited about it.
Interesting to see if it works. Most people buying Switch at launch either have a PS4 , or don't want one. Sony will need to do this again come the end of the year, when it will matter more.
In the meantime many of us have chosen Switch and Zelda over Sony's competitive release schedule. I was planning to get Horizon and Nier at launch, but the timing means I'll only play them in June or so. I don't think I'm alone in that.
@Bhattiboy Did you really need to link to that? Please don't edit it back in or you'll be banned.
Im just going to buy BoTW for the Wii U so I can finally give that $300 shelf box some purpose. If Nintendo gets a decent library I'll buy the switch when its under $200. Until then I'm going to enjoy my PS4 and my stack of games that I won't finish until halfway through the PS5 life cycle. That and wait anxiously for PS4 pro to drop under $300.
This is great! PS4 is without a doubt the best current-gen system, and this is a great way of getting more people to enjoy its games. For any new PS4 buyers, I recommend getting Just Dance 2017 on the side.
While I think it's a valid move, I don't think that will ever lower the Switch "day 1" sales.
Nintendo is very weak in the UK market right now. Seems like a good move to try and keep the foothold for Sony.
I wonder how many people will just buy both, lol
Lol... these reactions here about something someone read somewhere on some forum... Christ, get a hold of yourselves. Why can't the 2 coexist?
I've ordered 10 Glacier White PS4s in Holland for myself, family and friends for as little as €188 a pop and although I'm glad we've been giving this opportunity instead of paying €400- €450 back home, I feel the price is too low. This race to the bottom these console manufacturers are in seems good for consumers now, but it's poisoning the very well we drink from. Having the Slim model PS4 drop over €100 in price within 6 months undermines the value of the PS brand and consoles in general. Sony is in a position where they can take a little hit, but there is no way up from this. What's left for Black Friday, €150?
It will hardly take any wind out of Nintendo's sails (and sales), because it isn't what you call a good proposition for non- Nintendo fans; I don't expect a lot of casual gamers or other console owners to buy a Switch just yet, they'll probably wait for a better deal anyway. Surely, Nintendo will have to follow suit shortly and will be forced to drop their price significantly before the holiday season starts because of this stunt, but let's just hope this won't be a Pyrrhic victory in the end for Sony.
@get2sammyb It seems I pushed the bounderies all i can do is offer an apology my intention was not to upset anyone.
@Bhattiboy What did you do???
No, don't answer that.
I buy the switch anyway. My girlfriend pays half or more when i finish this internship. Good news i already got offered a job ( one of the big 4 = audit)
Nice prices. I spent a bit more than that when I bought mine a month or so ago
I don't have any plans to grab a Switch anytime soon, but maybe I'll get one eventually.
Eh, all it means is that more people who don't have much money can afford to get a ps4. That's not hurting anyone, surely. Gaming has never been cheaper. I'm going to pick up a switch once they have enough decent games on it- if they have enough decent games on it- and I'm happy with Horizon anyway.
Last gen console goes down in price shocker.
Happy owner of a PS4, Xbox One, and in the morning post, a Nintendo Switch (it better be in the morning post). It is a bit petty but business is business. Sony needs money to survive and along comes a new device that brings in a game that kinda under cut PS4's latest massive release. Sony more so since as a company they aren't doing so good and only really get most revenue from the Playstation section of the company. Also, remember that Horizon already had a release date announced BEFORE the Switch got a specific March 3rd release date. If Sony are petty for lowering their prices, Nintendo are petty for releasing a new console just days after a massive release on PS4. I want to play Horizon but it will have to wait till after I'm done with Zelda. It's my all time favourite game franchise.
Willy-waving antics!
@adf86
They way Sony was treating Nintendo and demanding, it is no surprize why Nintendo dropped out of the partnership.
@Gold_Ranger Both sides were acting like petulant children over the SNES CD. Sony wanted instant access to all the licenses Nintendo had cultivated and Nintendo under cut the deal by talking to Phillips behind their back during negotiations. Hiroshi Yaumachi was a power hungry leader. It is why Nintendo dominated in the 80s and 90s. I much prefered Satoru Iwata but he didn't have the drive Yaumachi had.
@Bhattiboy All good! 👌
Ain't nothing "petty" about this. It's big business. This is the way competition is supposed to work. If Nintendo can't take the heat, they need to get out of the kitchen.
With that said, I'm getting my Switch in the mail tomorrow, and couldn't be more excited!
Nothing petty, but I do think it's a panic move if Sony doing this only because of the Switch. They are competitors but the Switch is so different from anything we've seen before, being a hybrid console it's the first of its kind and I really don't think anything Sony (and MS) do or don't do will have any sort of impact on how Switch does longterm. Sony's goal simply needs to be to keep moving PS4 in a good quantity (and hopefully find a way to keep it somewhat relevant in Japan, which is now going to be tougher) and surpassing PS3 numbers. With two new competing consoles on the market later this year, things aren't going to be easy so it's going to be interesting to see when Sony starts talking up PS5 and more interesting to see what direction they go with it given certain patents we know about. Looking throughout the rest of this year though, PS4 does have the strongest software lineup so we'll see if that, along with aggressive pricing is enough to keep it out in front.
IMHO Sony have nothing to fear and business is business, deal with it! Nintendo Switch is underpowered and so far heavily unsupported by 3rd party publishers.
All is fair in love and console war!!!!
@Gamer83. Panic move? Sony have just short of 60 million units in the bag so I don't think Sony are too worried.
I forgot the Switch was coming out anyway so thanks for reminding me SONY
Smart business. This will absolutely take away from the Switch sales but by how much is a tough one to predict.
Parents on a tight budget buying a present for their child's birthday is one obvious example.
@JoeBlogs Great minds think alike
@YETi Agreed. This is a POWER MOVE from Sony. This will get a lot of people who've still been on the sidelines into the PS4 ecosystem, and get them enjoying the system's great game library. All those new owners and game purchases in turn will fuel even more game development and PS4 purchases in the future. It's a win-win for Sony, and for the players.
I'm getting BotW for Wii U.
The Glitch will fail.
"Petty", yeah. Let's picture all these folks at the head of video game businesses like SCE and pretend to believe that they would do any differently. It's business, and Sony's just trying to keep PS4 a viable purchase even during the train hype ride that is a release of a new console.
@BrizzoUK wow I thought I was a gamer you're hardcore lol!
@Gold_Ranger No different from Nintendo charging ridiculously high licensing prices and restricting publishers to only a few games a year. Tbh a company playing hardball with them was long overdue.
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