When We Will See $199 Consoles

I got my question answered by Michael Pachter on Pachter Factor a show on SIFTED. I have always enjoyed Michael Pachter's opinions on the business side of the gaming industry even when I disagreed with him or thought he was flat out wrong. He is someone I have gotten to meet in person and can be incredibly nice. So thank you Mr. Pachter and I hope I see you again in the future.   

The question I asked was when he thought that this generation of gaming consoles would go to $199. Shane has a habit of changing my question to make it fit the format of the show. My original question was who would first cut the price to $199 including Nintendo. Though I understand it would be very unlikely to have been Nintendo especially given how successful the Switch was.

I ask this question because Microsoft could afford to cut the price first if they cared about gaining market share but Sony has shown to care about it more.  At $199 even PlayStation would see a significant increase in PlayStation sales which would lead to even more software sales which are where they make more of their money anyway. Though they could see good PlayStation sales even without lowering revenue given their current market position.

Microsoft on the other hand probably is perfectly fine with being behind Sony since they still make a ton of money. While they would like to have more market share they probably are more focused on maximizing profits out of their Xbox division. Make no mistake they will still try to create an amazing gaming experience but for their existing Xbox fans. With the focus, they had on the Xbox One X this E3 they want you to know they are about the hardcore gamers.

I also wonder when the Nintendo Switch will see that price drop. Nintendo is known to never sell their console at a loss plus the Switch is selling extremely well. The Switch is an amazing piece hardware, but it is made of commodity components parts so it will only be a matter of time before they can make a profit at even $199. At that price though I can’t even fathom how many units Nintendo would be able to sell given how popular the device already is.

I believe all of them will get a price cut to $199 but who knows for how long they will be at that price before the consoles themselves get discontinued. Xbox 360 had a base price of $199 for a solid couple years. With this console generation looking to be just as long if not longer, we could see a price base price for the basic model of consoles at $199. If that happens it just means more gamers buying games and industry thriving because of it.    

When and what the next generation of consoles will look like deserves a whole conversation dedicated just to that itself. PlayStation Pro and Xbox One X have changed the console generation by adding more life. Who knows what the true next generation of consoles will bring to gaming.