Sony executives danced and high-fived each other when they heard that Microsoft’s Xbox One would launch at a higher price-point than PS4, according to Scott Rohde, head of Sony Worldwide Studios America.
Speaking with Ars Technica, Rohde was asked how he felt when Microsoft announced that Xbox One would be $100 more expensive than PS4.
“I’m not gonna lie,” he replied. “I remember exactly where I was. We were in press conference rehearsals last year. We had a feeling they were going to come in at $499, but we weren’t sure. So yeah, we were dancing in the aisles and high-fiving. It was great. Anyone that came in on an interview, it didn’t matter what the question was, I could always just answer it with $399. It was the answer to every question.”
Rohde added that he wasn’t surprised to see Microsoft ditching Kinect from its Xbox One console bundles to bring costs down, saying, “I think that, to be truthful, we always assumed that eventually they’d have to release a SKU without a camera. So we were waiting for it to a degree, and we were ready for it.”