On Monday, for awhile many anticipated Sony would finally unveil the price tag on their next generation of consoles. Owing in large part to a now-retracted rumor, the hype reached a crescendo when with Amazon unveiling their Playstation 5 pre-order page store page. After several hours it became evident the price point was going to be revealed. At least for the day.

With the Holiday launch window approaching, Sony needs to make the pricing available to allow retailers to begin taking pre-orders. What the question is then is when they will announce the price point and whether it will be Sony or Microsoft that does so first.

Amazon’s launch of its storefront very well could be an indication Sony intends to announce sometime over the next couple of days. Alternatively, the page going up’s timing is purely coincidental, and everyone is reading into happenstance more than there is.

Either way, let’s take this opportunity to review what we know thus far about the console.

What Do We Know

Pricing

Back in February, Bloomberg broke the news that component scarcity and fierce competition for the available components had resulted in the need for Sony to price the PS5 at $450. That was before Covid-19 decimated and continues to decimate the Chinese economy resulting in a price increase between $499 to $549, according to developers who spoke with the outlet.

As many have pointed out, consoles are typically sold at a loss with that loss recuperated by software and accessory sales, so Sony may be capable of or willing to sell at a significant loss.

Availability

Sony manufactures its Playstation 5’s with the slave and child labor using Foxconn. In April, the company had plans to limited available to between 5-6 million units for the first year of release.

There is no word whether Sony will be able to meet this projection, as Foxconn has had manufacturing delays resulting from the Covid-19 epidemic that continues to mutate and sweep through the Chinese Nation. Further complicating plans, torrential rains have flooded vast swaths of China, resulting in many industries shutting down temporarily.

Specs

Specs are pretty clear. The console manages to be more powerful than the PS4 and features an over-hyped high middle-market SSD. Beyond that, the console is significantly weaker than Microsoft’s offering.