PS5 Set to Recieve a Price Increase

Sony has recently announced that their latest console- the Playstation 5- will be the subject of a substantial price increase this year. Sony put out the price increases as the following:

Europe

• PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – €549.99

• PS5 Digital Edition – €449.99

• UK

  • PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – £479.99

  • PS5 Digital Edition – £389.99

• Japan (effective Sept. 15, 2022)

  • PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – ¥60,478 yen (including tax)

  • PS5 Digital Edition – ¥49,478 yen (including tax)

• China

  • PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – ¥4,299 yuan

  • PS5 Digital Edition – ¥3,499 yuan

• Australia

  • PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – AUD $799.95

  • PS5 Digital Edition – AUD $649.95

• Mexico

  • PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – MXN $14,999

  • PS5 Digital Edition – MXN $12,499

• Canada

  • PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – CAD $649.99

  • PS5 Digital Edition – CAD $519.99

Sony has attributed this to rising costs of parts- bumping up the cost to make the console. It remains to be seen whether this will lead to a price increase for accessories or games but it’s likely that Playstation will want to be very careful in those areas- since the internet was already not too pleased with this announcement. 

While it’s already quite crazy to see basically the first instance of a video game console increasing in price, what’s even more interesting is that only ‘select markets’ are subject to it- which are all listed above. One huge market excluded from this is the USA. This lack of increase in price here doesn’t really add up with Sony’s increasing costs for parts narrative and many have speculated that the US has been spared the price hike since the race between Xbox and Playstation is much closer there than the rest of the world. Essentially, saying that Sony needs every sale it can get. While this hasn’t been confirmed (and likely never will) it makes a lot of sense for Playstation to try to be as low-cost and competitive as possible in this market. With Xbox’s growing fanbase in the States (largely due to game pass), Sony are doing everything they can to attract American play bases- something a price increase certainly wouldn’t do. That doesn’t mean that the increase isn’t any less harmful in other markets- especially in Europe with a €50 mark up. With cost of living going up and up by the day, this may detract a lot of potential customers from picking up the system- especially with the Christmas season rapidly approaching.

But what does this mean for Microsoft and Nintendo’s consoles. Are these company’s going to follow the trend and increase their prices? Very quickly, these rumours were put to rest with statements coming from both Xbox and Nintendo confirming that they would increase the price for their offerings. This is likely in part due to the backlash Sony received for their decision to bump the PS5’s price up. While this is good to see, the problem remains that everything really is getting more expensive, and if this trend continues, its going to be very worrying in the next few years to see what impact this might have on video games as a whole. This is especially true for big AAA releases- with PS5 games weighing in at a hefty £70 price tag if you want to play them day one. While we can hope this won’t be the case,