One of the big questions asked by the language of gamers is this: what will the price of the PS5 be? A new interview with Sony Interactive Entertainment President and CEO Jim Ryan could leave potential PlayStation 5 buyers shaking their piggy banks. In a great interview with GamesIndustryBiz, Ryan discussed the speculation surrounding the cost of the PS5. Although he didn't reveal the price, Ryan suggested that the PS5 could be a serious blow to gamers' savings and he certainly wasn't committed to beating the Xbox Series X on price. Speaking of the fact that the potential of a Covid-19 recession will affect sales of the high-value device PS5, Ryan said: "I think the best way to solve this problem is to provide the best possible value proposition. No I necessarily mean the lowest price. Value is a combination of many things. In our area, that means games, that means the number of games, the depth of games, the length of games, the quality of games, the price of the games… all of that and how they take advantage of the full functionality of the platform.”
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Ryan noted, however, that gambling tends to be one of the pastimes that remains strong in times of economic hardship: "Recent history has told us that gambling is one of the pastimes, and one of the businesses, that benefits in tough economic times. It makes a lot of sense, people don't have the money to go out and then they stay home. Now who knows what this recession will be like, how deep it will be and how long it will last. It may be that the historical models, the models Historical statements that have applied in the past do not apply to the future." Price remains a major battleground in console forms, probably more important in the early days of a console selling than its game library or feature set. The PS3 lost out to the Xbox 360 on price, and the roles were reversed in the next-gen PS4 and Xbox One, with Sony slashing Microsoft's $100 at launch. It is a crucial decision for which the two companies have yet to announce their positions. Could we know the exact price of the PS5 this week? All eyes will be on the PS5 games revealed this Thursday, we'll keep you posted.