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PS4 Camera Sold Out, Shows Why an Xbox One Is a Better Deal

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A new report indicating that supplies of Sony’s PS Camera are tight also shows why purchasing an Xbox One may be better for gamers who aren’t looking for exclusive titles than the PS4.

To be clear, the report by Polygon only indicates that Sony is having a hard time keeping the accessory for its PS4 gaming console on store shelves. The PS4 Camera is sold out every where including Best Buy, Target and Amazon. About the only place users can still pick up one of the devices is GameStop, which has hiked up the price of the PS4 camera by an additional $10 to, presumably, make a bit extra on every sale.

Should I buy an Xbox One or a PS4? The answer is complex, but price shouldn't be the only factor.

Should I buy an Xbox One or a PS4? The answer is complex, but price shouldn’t be the only factor.

A statement sent to the gaming website by Sony is actually what puts the entire situation into perspective. According to Sony, “Live broadcasting on PS4 is thriving, with more than 3.6 million live gameplay broadcasts streamed via Twitch and Ustream.” The company’s statement ends with it declaring that PS4’s broadcasting abilities are driving sales of the PS Camera.

The PS Camera allows users to control some built-in experiences with their voice or gestures, however it doesn’t integrate with third-party apps like Netflix.

If what Sony is saying is true than its current predicament contradicts what most gaming insiders have said about the value of the Xbox One’s Kinect 2 sensor. Every Xbox One comes with a Kinect 2 sensor included, avoiding shortages and putting every user on equal footing so that developers and services like Twitch have a consistent user footprint to build new experiences. It’s believed that Microsoft’s decision to include the sensor is what caused the wide pricing gap between the Xbox One and PS4, with the Xbox One coming in at $100 more at $499.

In short, if users are buying so many PS Cameras that Sony is having a hard time keeping them in stock, Microsoft’s decision to include the Kinect 2 with every console seems to be validated. The price of purchasing a PS4 with a PS Camera comes to about $460 before tax in the United States. That’s still lower than the Xbox One until you factor in the digital game that Xbox One consoles in the United States are being bundled with. Both Titanfall and Forza 5 now have their own bundles in the United States that costs the same $499 as the console did a few months ago without a game. That adds another $60 value to the Xbox One.

Buying a PS4, PS Camera and a single game would cost users $520, $20 more than what a Xbox One with an included Kinect 2 sensor and an included copy of Titanfall or Forza 5 would.

It’s also worth noting that the PS Camera may power Twitch on the PS4 but how Sony integrated it into the console’s software doesn’t come close to what’s available with the Xbox One and the Kinect 2.

Sony says it’s always working to keep up with demand for the PS4 Camera.

19 Comments

19 Comments

  1. Jake

    03/06/2014 at 1:40 pm

    Or it means that consumers prefer options. Some consumers may be fine with cameras. Some may not. By not bundling the camera, Sony gave consumers a choice.

    As for value, PS4 owners have DC Universe Online, Warframe, Blacklight: Retribution as free to play. Xbox One has Killer Instict. Since both systems require Plus or Live (although the PS4 less so), and Plus subscribers have Resogun, Contrast, Don’t Starve, Outlast, and Dead Nation (so far), and Xbox One hasn’t offered anything except KI (and now Spark), I would suggest that the PS4 is a better value… with options.

    (Plus the DS4 is rechargeable, whereas the Xbox controller requires purchasing batteries or a $24.99 charge and play kit, and the PS4 is compatible with PS3 headsets and standard connecting headphones such as Beats by Dre, but the Xbox One requires a new headset or a $24.99 adaptor.)

  2. Erudito De Firenze (@Erudito87)

    03/06/2014 at 2:25 pm

    Most people prefer to have a choice, rather than having something forced onto you.

  3. Erudito De Firenze (@Erudito87)

    03/06/2014 at 2:27 pm

    A game, ps camera and a ps4 may be more expensive if people are silly enough to buy it all at the retailer instead of online but atleast you get a machine that can run games at 1080p.

  4. Chris

    03/06/2014 at 2:31 pm

    Dude so what if it’s 20 bucks more. Playstation is giving you an option to buy the camera if you want to were Microsoft is cramming it down your throat, plus you also get to choose that game were once again Microsoft is forcing it on you. So want I’m saying is Playstation is a better company than Microsoft because they let you choose whether or not you want it or not were as Microsoft force there crappie on you, plus the Xbox one specs. sucks compared to the PS4. One more thing if I were a game developer why would I make a awesome looking game only to have to bring it’s look down to work on the Xbox one, it just means more work and more money. P.S. I am not a Playstation fan boy I love my Xbox 360 and would run out and buy an Xbox one in a second if they removed the Kenect took all that extra crap out and boosted the graphics and all the gaming specs and made it just for gaming because I already have a bluray player that does all that “great stuff” that all it is doing is taking up software and hardware space in the Xbox one.

  5. someone

    03/06/2014 at 2:42 pm

    then acount for online gaming. on xbox one live gold you dont get a game for 60bucks, on ps+ for 50 you get a game. this game would be like 10-15 on xbox. then its equall or 5 in favour off ps4. then acount for at least 12 games that year, and then the free2play games (who are not on xbox at the moment..)

  6. Martin Brentnall

    03/06/2014 at 2:48 pm

    You pay $20 extra because the PS4 is a more powerful console. That’s not rocket science.

    Also, being in the UK, I paid £430 on launch day for my PS4 with the camera, extra controller and Killzone Shadow Fall. The Xbox One Titanfall bundle will be £400 here with Titanfall and Kinect, but an extra controller (£36) will put the whole Xbox One cost slightly above what I paid for my PS4.

    All that said, you’d have a hard time finding the same PS4 bundle I got for £430. Amazon currently lists it at £615 new. Seems the PS4 is still in quite a lot of demand. :)

  7. Cozomel

    03/06/2014 at 3:29 pm

    Kinect isn’t forced on anyone….u have a choice not to buy the console. The kinect is integrated into the OS and as such Microsoft wants to keep it bundled in for that reason as well as so developers can make sure of kinect knowing that every xbox one owner has one.

    Kinect and Xbox one go hand in hand, if u do not like it, don’t buy the console. But no, instead people whine and cry as if they ever were going to buy an xbox one anyway. Childish and stupid.

  8. Cozomel

    03/06/2014 at 3:31 pm

    As much as I like my PS4, sony is in no way a better company then Microsoft, far from it actually. Microsoft makes money, billions in profits, sony loses money billions in losses. Your statement is purely from a sony fanboy view and biased, and not from a business standpoint in which Microsoft wins every.single.time.

  9. Walter Smith

    03/06/2014 at 3:55 pm

    Thank you Cozomel…Microsoft did more than OK with Xbox One…ask any stock holder in MS. Sony ONLY has the PS4 as their lifeline…they’ll be bought or merged mark my words quicker than Nintendo…and it has nothing to do with Playstation, but how bad the rest of Sony is doing, and compare that to Microsoft and their buisness model…enough said Sony fanboys

  10. ChitownJ

    03/06/2014 at 3:58 pm

    Hey dummy isn’t this article about the X1 being a better buy than the PS4 because of the camera bundle? So what do you mean just don’t buy it? Stay on subject.

    Also it’s not about how much the companies make, he was speaking on how they treat you as a customer. You know value for the buck?

    You’re one bitter fool. Smh!

  11. Walter Smith

    03/06/2014 at 3:59 pm

    Sony Vaio…gone. Sony HD tv’s, overpriced junk compared to Korean HD sets, Sony stereo receivers…do they still make them? Could go on and on about how bad Japanese companies have fallen in the tech world, while their Asian neighbors and the U.S. have made fools of them.

  12. Walter Smith

    03/06/2014 at 4:06 pm

    Never had one problem w/Microsoft customer service…since 1985 when I bought my first Microsoft PC game. ChitownJ, are you just “pissed off” because an American company has reclaimed an industry that Americans created in the 1970’s through Atari, Intellivsion, Coleco, etc.? Hate an American company…start w/Apple you dumb ass. They run a slave labor “micro-nation” within China…

  13. Ryuichi Kinichiro

    03/06/2014 at 4:14 pm

    This article is awful. So the reasoning is that b/c the PS4 camera is sold out, that makes the Xbox One the better console/deal? That makes absolutely no sense and there’s no logic in it. Typical of Xbox fanboys especially the blog author.

    And people in the comments section aren’t any better either. Nothing but Xbox fanboys that are hypocritical and some don’t even pick up the Xbox but yet claim MS is the better company. If it’s such a good company then why don’t you have an Xbox? Why’d you even get a PS4?

    • Walter Smith

      03/06/2014 at 4:23 pm

      I’ve owned every videogame system for each generation since Genesis, SNES, and NEC Turbografx because I love gaming, on all systems. I love Playstation, but hate the hate and negative crap PS owners keep talking about Xbox. Ryuichi, know how much I played my PS4 since last Friday when I got it, pretty much nill since there are shit exclusive games for it compared to Xbox. Sorry, honest truth…Killzone is a glitch filled half attempt at a shooter, that would barely pass for an Indie FPS on a PC. All those PS Plus games I was hyped about, deleted everyone off the PS4. Release a NEXT-GEN non ported PS3 game, and MAYBE their worth it. Sorry…waiting and waiting for a GOOD PS4 exclusive! Still enjoying Dead Rising 3 and Forza…since November of last year. Unless Sony makes a good game for the American market soon…gone on Ebay!

    • Walter Smith

      03/06/2014 at 4:25 pm

      …and yes, I enjoy my Wii U games more than anything Sony has to offer…

  14. josh abrams

    03/06/2014 at 9:04 pm

    poor lost microsoft kids…keep dreaming…you might have a good console..until then…dream on….SONY beats microsoft…NUFF said.

  15. Twerm

    03/07/2014 at 7:46 am

    Aren’t they also having a hard time keeping the console itself in stock? Surely that just goes to show the popularity and the decision to sell the eye as an accessory rather than bundle it was a better idea…

  16. sherlock UK

    03/07/2014 at 8:51 am

    The PS4 camera being sold out and the PS4 being sold out in general proves one thing! It is selling well, Sony can’t keep up with demand!
    6 million PS4’s sold to 3.6 million Xboxone’s. Sony outplayed Microsoft with a cheaper entry point, much like the xbox360 did over the ps3 previously.
    Titanfall may rescue the xboxone in the USA but it has lost in Europe and Japan.

    The fact is they are both great consoles, the xboxone will provide great games and a better media solution.
    But the PS4 will offer a higher resolution and a better gaming solution.
    Both will have exclusives, which is a shame for the owners of the other hardware.
    You make your choice accordingly.
    But this article smacks of desperation and reads xbox fan, please buy as I have one.

    I own both so don’t give two hoots! But balanced journalism I value, this article is quite frankly laughably biased.

  17. saviormoney

    03/10/2014 at 8:34 am

    I have both but I prefer Xbox One. That has nothing to do with any of the specs or capabilities. I just prefer the layout and my friends are on Xbox. Ive been on Xbox since Sony killed my beloved Dreamcast BUT I work at Sony and I can tell you, we NEEDED PS4 to do well and it has. Now, we have job security, for a while anyway

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