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Sony will launch PlayStation 4 at $399. (Take that, Microsoft.)

The Xbox One will sell for half a grand. The Sony PlayStation 4 for a hundred bucks less than that. 

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Reuters
Sony Computer Entertainment President Andrew House presents the Sony Playstation 4 at a news conference show on the eve of the opening of E3 in Los Angeles, Calif., June 10, 2013.
  • By Matthew Shaer

The Sony PlayStation 4 will sell for $399 when it debuts later this year, Sony announced yesterday at a press conference in Los Angeles the day before the start of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). 

This is big news for a very simple reason: Microsoft recently revealed that its forthcoming Xbox One console will debut at $499, meaning that PS4 will undercut the One by hundred bucks at launch. And a hundred bucks isn't nothing, especially when you consider that many consumers will want to purchase games (likely at least $60 a pop) and additional controllers for their new systems. 

Interestingly, in the past, it was Sony that attempted to position itself as the luxury console-maker. Its PlayStation 3, for instance, originally sold for $499, a hundred bucks more than the roughly contemporaneous Xbox 360. Now the tables have turned. 

Of course, the PS4 and Xbox One will vary drastically, and not just in terms of price – there's also the question of DRM, or Digital Rights Management. As NBC News has noted, with the Xbox One, Microsoft has suggested that it will leave "the decision of whether or not to charge players an additional fee when installing pre-owned games up to individual publishers." 

Sony, on the other hand, has said that no such restrictions will apply to the PS4. 

Over at CNET, Eric Franklin calls the whole thing a "decidedly different philosophy when it comes to software and what true ownership means in a continually complex digital age." He calls Sony's approach "much more pro-consumer" – we totally agree – although he also hints that game publishers, who have complained in the past about the constant re-selling of titles at outlets such as GameStop, can't be too pleased. 

"Still," Mr. Franklin writes, "the proof will be in the pudding, and how all of this stuff actually plays out after each console's release, we just can't say yet." 

We'd like to hear from you: Will the hundred dollar price difference make a difference to you? Drop us a line in the comments section. 

And for more tech news, follow us on Twitter @venturenaut.

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