PlayStation 5 may start at $399 in colossal 9th gen win for Sony

The PS5's price could start at $399 for the digital-only option, and $499 for the disc-based system, new store catalogs hint.

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El Corte Ingles, Spain's biggest department store retailer, has reportedly added two mysterious consoles to its internal database: Aurea for $399, and Enigma for $499. These are likely codenames for the PlayStation 5 duo. If accurate, this would put the disc-less PlayStation 5 at $399, which will effectively seal the 9th generation for Sony.

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These names seem to align with previous codenames used for Sony PlayStation hardware:

• Orbis - PS4
• Neo - PS4 Pro
• Morpheus - PSVR
• Arc - PS Move

If accurate, Sony would be taking a hit on every console sold, which is to be expected. Console-makers are more comfortable selling hardware at a loss because lucrative billion-dollar storefronts like the PlayStation Network will offset these costs. Estimates put the PS5's total manufacturing cost at about $450, which doesn't include shipping or retail costs.

The base disc PlayStation 5 at $499 is something we predicted long ago and makes sense for both Sony and consumers. The $100 premium would reflect freedom to pop in discs, buy used games, and watch DVDs and 4K UHD Blu-rays.

A $399 digital-only option will be a tremendous win for Sony on two fronts: Gamers will be exclusively locked to its digital ecosystem and only buy games directly from the PS Store, and Sony will enjoy more mass volume of console sales due to the lower MSRP.

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Sony is already enjoying massive success with digital earnings, especially in Q1'20 where it had the highest record earnings of any games company in the history of gaming. Sony made $3.6 billion from digital software in Q1'20 from a record 91 million game sales (74% of which were digital).

The PlayStation 5 is expected to spike both hardware and software earnings even higher, Sony says, and the PS5 digital-only version is a big reason for that.

Sony has yet to announce PlayStation 5 pricing, but we should see official MSRP and availability during the new event this Wednesday, September 16 at 3PM EST.

Check below for cross-gen spec comparisons:

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