Sony excluded camera from PlayStation 4 bundle to keep price low

Sony’s decision to price the PlayStation 4 lower than the Xbox One has become clear. According to IGN, the company decided against including the PlayStation Camera with the PS4 bundle so that it could give the console the competitive $100 lead in pricing over the Xbox One.

The company had apparently decided the price in the months leading up to E3, when it cancelled its plans to include the camera with the console. Originally, Sony had planned to have the camera bundled with the console and would have had the same $499 price tag as the Xbox One.

The LED on the controller is essentially just fluff

The downside of this decision is that developers cannot assume that everyone has the PlayStation Camera, and hence, may decide against supporting it. It also makes the built-in LED Move tracker on the DualShock 4 useless unless one buys the camera.

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Right now, the LED is only limited to being visually distinct. It can denote which player has which controller by way of colour coding, and if supported, can react to in-game events, such as blinking red when a player’s health is low. To make better use of the built-in Move sensor, players will have to buy the PlayStation 4 camera seperately, which is set to cost $59.99 (Rs 3,600 approx).

The strategy has paid off for Sony, since its console is dominating pre-orders. The company has even claimed that it has boosted internal sales estimates. Online retailers like Amazon have reported record-breaking pre-orders for the console.

The PlayStation 4 is set to hit Indian store shelves later this year.