According to Japanese newspaper Asahi, the PS4 will cost consumers in Japan more than 40,000 yen. While rumors of price are speculation at best until we hear from Sony, this translates to $428 in USD and roughly 317 Euros. With the newspaper specifically insisting that the PS4 will more than 40,000 yen, this can mean a more realistic price of $449 or $499 for what will probably be the base model.

It should also be noted that device prices don’t always translate well with simple currency conversions as the process of pricing is more complicated then that. If the price does hold true, this marks a lower price for Sony who offered the PlayStation 3 at $599 at launch and still lost more than $300 on each unit.

It’s still unclear what the cost of each PS4 unit will be for Sony until the console is launched and opened for dissection. However, a lower price point will surely help Sony capture more consumers from the console’s launch. It’s also expected that Sony will not be losing at much money on each unit, if any, as the company is not in the same financial situation as when the PS3 launched to be able to afford a big loss on each unit. So it begs the question, if priced at $499, would you buy the console near launch?