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Sony Sacrificed the PlayStation 4 Camera to Beat Microsoft on Price

jmood88

Member
Wise decision. The camera is not an essential accessory. Those who want it will buy it anyway, sooner or later.

It also means that there's absolutely no hope that anything meaningful will be made with the camera. Sony might as well just get rid of it altogether.
 
"But the advantage came at a cost: the PlayStation 4 camera." Did anyone want it in the first place? I'd much rather have that money in my pocket.
 

DigitalOp

Banned
There's an easy fix for this. Sony makes a killer app that uses the PS Eye, people buy it droves for app, then developers start supporting hardware!!
 

hal9001

Banned
Why does the IGN article have a negative tone and makes it out like its a bad thing they didn't include the camera?

What's worse, the DualShock 4's integrated LEDs are now good for little more than visual flair. Per Sony, the light-up panels will help indicate the player associated with each controller and, when supported, react to in-game cues, such as blinking red when a player is low on health. Ultimately, the limited functionality of the LEDs without the aid of the Eye won't impact the player experience or even drastically diminish the overall battery life of the controller, but it's a lingering reminder of Sony's failure to support the tech.

Microsoft's decision to bundle a Kinect with each Xbox One and require it for use may be unpopular, but it guarantees that every user will have the option to try Kinect-enabled games and experiences.
 

EvB

Member
Sony can add both the PS4 camera and the glowing lights to the epic pile of Playstation accessories they ditched.
 
K

kittens

Unconfirmed Member
Thank you, Sony. I don't want to pay for Kinect, and I don't want to pay for the PS4 Camera.
 

GameSeeker

Member
Smart move on Sony's part. $60 is not too bad a price for an add-on accessory. If, and I repeat, IF Sony and 3rd parties can showcase compelling content for the PS4 camera, then it will sell in reasonable volumes. Sony could also bundle the camera with the PS4 a few years down the road, when PS4 costs have come down (much like Microsoft did with Kinect bundles).
 

Lupin3

Targeting terrorists with a D-Pad
You take the camera out of the box and suddenly it's a $59.99 gadget instead of $100?
 

Guevara

Member
It also means that there's absolutely no hope that anything meaningful will be made with the camera. Sony might as well just get rid of it altogether.

I mean even Bioshock Infinite has move controls. Seems weird to me, but there you go.
 

StevieP

Banned
This is all true and good work by ign here to get behind all of it.

Kind of obvious. Smart move. Why FORCE people to buy one.

When you relegate something as an accessory, you relegate it to death. Uselessness. So while us hardcore gamers win, because we don't care, all practical uses of a built in camera are dead along with this. Everyone wins on price obviously, but Sony's already taking a bath on hardware. They could've easily increased that bath by 30 or 40 bucks to get their camera off the ground.

Keep in mind that I'm not looking at this from a gamers perspective when I say all that. Just a mass market perspective. They Are still priced out of the mass market and will be for a long time. They basically "move"'d this.
 

Kalren

Member
They can do the same thing down the road for camera-required games and bundle the game and camera for $99 later. If people are interested, they'll pick it up. If not, they probably wouldn't have bought the camera software anyway.

Wise move by Sony.

This is exactly what should happen. If there is a piece of software that interests me I'll pick it up. If it's bundled, even better for me.
 

TRios Zen

Member
Seems fairly obvious that this was what transpired.

I can't say that I am glad for this as who knows what the combination of the controller LEDs and Eye could have accomplished if they had been consistent across the platform.

What did we lose? We don't know and perhaps it was nothing of value. What did we gain? $100 (speculated in article) price cut - something tangible.
 
It also means that there's absolutely no hope that anything meaningful will be made with the camera. Sony might as well just get rid of it altogether.

Yeahup, I'm a hardcore gamer too but dammit I want support for move and the cool things you can do with the new ds4. Now that stuff is almost guaranteed to never happen.
 

Freki

Member
It also means that there's absolutely no hope that anything meaningful will be made with the camera. Sony might as well just get rid of it altogether.

Why? There are people who probably want to get it for dance or fitness games...
Options are a good thing!
 

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
The PS4 cam is 50 bucks - they would still undercut MS even when it was included. Hail Cerny.
 
It also means that there's absolutely no hope that anything meaningful will be made with the camera.

Just as well, if it were bundled I'd be concerned about regular games getting superfluous camera functions added like Sixaxis motion in early PS3 games.
 

omgvinniejones

Neo Member
Thank God, this era of gimmicky BS which is a blatent PR for "hey your traditional style to enjoy your games is obsolete, you need THIS now !". Well FU, I want to play games with my ass on my couch, with a f'in controller. I love my controller. I want to be burried with it.
 

Mileena

Banned
This is all true and good work by ign here to get behind all of it.



When you relegate something as an accessory, you relegate it to death. Uselessness. So while us hardcore gamers win, because we don't care, all practical uses of a built in camera are dead along with this. Everyone wins on price obviously, but Sony's already taking a bath on hardware. They could've easily increased that bath by 30 or 40 bucks to get their camera off the ground.

Keep in mind that I'm not looking at this from a gamers perspective when I say all that. Just a mass market perspective. They Are still priced out of the mass market and will be for a long time. They basically "move"'d this.
But no one wants the shitty camera.
 
According to multiple sources, in the months leading up to E3, Sony nixed plans to include the camera add-on with every system and shave $100 off it's originally planned price of $499. Most importantly, it did so quietly, informing its retail partners only of the removal of the camera.
They had it in a video prior to E3 in black and white stating it was a separate accessory. Not sure how that is 'quiet' or not letting MS know.
 
So the $59.99 camera would have added an extra $100 to the total cost of the system?

There is no way they could have stacked up the camera against the technically superior Kinect at the same price. Wise decision by Sony.

Good for Sony, good for those who didn't want it. Sucks for me though.

You can buy it for $59.99 instead of an extra $100 packed in.
 
It also means that there's absolutely no hope that anything meaningful will be made with the camera. Sony might as well just get rid of it altogether.

While that would be totally fine with me, I believe that it's required that either devs have camera support or Vita cross-play support, so maybe we'll get something.

Like I said though, I, and probably most on GAF, don't care if the camera doesn't get support.
 

WolvenOne

Member
Well, seeing as the camera is retailing at 60usd, it probably only costs 20-30usd to manufacture. So that doesn't account for the entire hundred dollar difference. I suspect poor yields are likely a larger factor.

Thing is, if the Kinect becomes a big thing, and most multi-plats on the X1 take advantage of it, Sony can still keep that gameplay intact for the PS4 version, so long as its optional. Heck, if its gameplay using voice commands, they don't even need the Eye attachment, the Mic in the bundled headset should work in a pinch.

If, multi-plats don't take advantage, and the Kinect remains the sideshow it has been for the past several years, than Sony can continue to safely ignore it.

Either way, they're fine. Microsoft can take the risk now, and if it pays off Sony can bundle it later, after PS4 manufacturing costs start to decline.
 

creyas

Member
It also means that there's absolutely no hope that anything meaningful will be made with the camera. Sony might as well just get rid of it altogether.

Get entirely rid of Move? Nah..

I don't like the price though, feels a bit steep.
 
I guess that's why they didn't mention Move once during their E3 presentation. I guess that's dead in the water. No one's going to develop games for a platform if everyone that owns that platform is not going to be able to play those games.

I personally don't care, but I think Sony is just saying that they can live without the Just Dance/Zumba Fitness consumers, whereas Microsoft is kind of doubling down on that group. I don't know who's going to be wrong or right, but I could never have predicted that the Wii would have taken off like it did this gen because of that crowd.

It's going to be a very interesting 2014.
 

Bgamer90

Banned
It also means that there's absolutely no hope that anything meaningful will be made with the camera. Sony might as well just get rid of it altogether.

Yep. All of the work Sony put into making PS4 camera & light tracking (controller) features will probably go to waste. Games made for it would already be at a disadvantage since for many, the cost of the game would be the price of the game + the price of the PS4 camera. Cuts into people who are willing to try out games made for the device.

The cheaper price of the system definitely helps though -- especially for the group that will be buying the console early that more than likely don't care much about motion controls.

Like I said though, I, and probably most on GAF, don't care if the camera doesn't get support.

Yep. I'm pretty sure that's true (as I said before in my point about early console buyers).
 
Wise decision. I don't particularly play a lot of Camera based games. I like them, but I don't care enough about them to the tune of an extra £80.
 

GodofWine

Member
This articles reeks of a desperate attempt to makes a selling point of the PS4 a drawback, and to make it sound like camera technology is something people want. Sounds like MS spin.
 
IMO this ensures gaming stays as it is on PS3. If included then developers could count on it and everything from youtube app to darksouls would include audio/camera commands

Flashback: AVGN screaming, FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE
 
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