Sam Machkovech
In the early hours of Thursday morning, Sony announced huge news for its PlayStation 5 console family. Console prices are going up all over the world.
The price hike for both PlayStation 5 models (one with a disc drive, one without) is effective immediately in at least six regions, with Japan joining the price hike battle on September 15. Sony’s announcement mentions specific price increases for some of its largest gaming territories, but it also warns that “select markets” could see their own price increases in the coming days. These include areas in the Asia-Pacific region, Central and South America and the huge cluster of countries that comprises the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa).
Somehow, a certain region is out of Sony’s sights for the time being: the United States.
| PS5 price hikes, August 2022 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| New | Old | Percentage increase | |
| Europe | 549.99 euros | 499.99 euros | 10 |
| Europe (fully digital) | 449.99 euros | 399.99 euros | 12.5 |
| UK | £479.99 | £449.99 | 6.7 |
| UK (fully digital) | £389.99 | £359.99 | 8.3 |
| Japan* | 54,980 yen | 49,980 yen | 10 |
| Japan (fully digital)* | 44,980 yen | 39,980 yen | 12.5 |
| China | 4,299 yuan | 3,899 yuan | 10.3 |
| China (fully digital) | 3,499 yuan | 3,099 yuan | 12.9 |
| Australia | €799.95 | €749.95 | 6.7 |
| Australia (fully digital) | €649.95 | € 599.95 | 8.3 |
| Mexico | MX$14,999 | MX$13,999 | 7.1 |
| Mexico (fully digital) | MX$12,499 | MX$11,499 | 8.7 |
| Canada | €649.99 | €629.99 | 3.2 |
| Canada (fully digital) | €519.99 | €499.99 | 4 |
* Japan’s price increase will not take effect until September 15, 2022.
The price increase appears to be a fixed amount in each affected region for both PS5 models. So, in percentage terms, the more affordable PS5 models without disc drives are hit harder by today’s news. Canada is getting off the easiest with today’s percentage increase, while Europe, Japan and China are each tied for the heaviest PS5 price increases.
Sony attributes the price increases across the board to two key economic factors: rising inflation and historic lows for the Japanese yen. US purchasing power doesn’t seem immune to any of these problems, so it’s unclear whether Sony’s assurance that “there will be no price hike in the United States” is rock solid.
Bad news for the upcoming PSVR2?
The price hike follows similar news from Meta’s virtual reality division, which opted to increase prices for its Quest 2 VR system late last month. Meta tried to mitigate the impact of the $100 price hike by including a free download of its popular rhythm action game Beat Saberwhich normally sells for $30.
At press time, Sony has not suggested that it will include downloadable freebies as part of its own price increase plan, although the price increase does not currently appear to exceed 13 percent in any region, unlike Meta’s price increase to 25 or 33 percent. depending on the model.
Oddly enough, Sony’s announcement of Tuesday’s launch window about its next virtual reality system, PlayStation VR2, suggested no retail price. Maybe Sony is keeping that news a secret so it can buy more time to price that PS5 add-on amid the current market realities. (This may cause us to rethink our recent guesses about PSVR2 pricing.)
Kyle Orland of Ars Technica recently researched the history of console pricing, although his analysis has mainly centered on the Nintendo Switch, a 2017 console that has had more years to grow long in terms of price-performance ratio. If that mega-selling console had followed historical console price trends, Orland’s analysis suggests that the price in the United States would have fallen to somewhere between $150 and $180 by now. Still, a combination of economic factors, including a shortage of chips and an unusually high demand for a years-old game system, which has allowed Switch to hold its original suggested retail price around the world.
Orland’s report was prompted in part by Nintendo, which recently assured investors and financial watchdogs in its home country of Japan that Switch’s price wouldn’t rise in the near future. Neither Sony nor Microsoft’s Xbox division had made similar promises ahead of Thursday’s PS5 news. Microsoft has a few advantages over Sony within the same inflation-filled market: namely, a more diverse financial portfolio, more than double Sony’s cash reserves, and much less reliance on the Japanese yen. Time will tell if Microsoft will continue to absorb the inflation-related costs of keeping its own Xbox console prices static.
