PlayStation 5 Is Getting A Price Increase
It's going to cost more?
A few months back, Nintendo made an unsurprising move — it lowered the price of its Nintendo Switch handheld console three years after it dominated the market as the best-selling gaming console. During that time, Microsoft had discontinued the production of its previous-gen Xbox One and doubled down its production efforts on making more Xbox Series S consoles as means of battling the chip shortages. And then, there’s Sony, who just raised the price of PlayStation 5 two years after the console hit the market.
This is a rather unexpected move from Sony, considering that raising the price of their current-gen console has very little sense two years after the console’s launch. Yet, according to IGN, Sony is justifying its price rise due to the continued inflation and growing global economic troubles. The company announced that it would be raising the PlayStation 5 price for both editions of the console for European, UK, Middle East, Asian, Canadian, and Latin American markets. The United States appears to be the only other major market that’s not affected by the price increase.
The president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, Jim Ryan, stated on PlayStation’s blog that the high global inflation rates and adverse currency trends are to blame for the price increase, as they impact consumers and create pressure on numerous industries. However, he also stated that improving the PS5 supply situation remains the company’s top priority, bringing the second-best-selling console to as many players as possible.
As for the PlayStation 5 prices, the European market witnessed a €50 price increase for both Digital and Ultra HD Blu-Ray editions of the console. UK saw a £30 price increase, Australia an additional $50 from launch price, Mexico an additional MX$1,000, while the prices in Canada jumped by CA$20. As for Japan, the new price equals $440 and $360 for the disc and digital editions, respectively. Chinese gamers will have to pay the price equal to $625 and $509 for the PlayStation 5 console.
As previously stated, Sony’s move is quite unusual, considering the general lack of their latest gaming hardware on the market. Typically, the price of gaming hardware is lowered over time by hardware manufacturers themselves, usually in an effort to draw in more price-conscious customers or to empty out their stocks in light of a new hardware release. Considering the ongoing chip shortage, the companies are less likely to push out new hardware releases, which makes the former option much more viable. Still, the PlayStation 5 prices went up.
The only possible explanation for the price increase is the weakening of foreign currencies in relation to the US Dollar. Despite trillions of dollars in debt, and the continuous large deficit spending, the US still holds global trust and confidence in its ability to pay its obligations, which has a direct impact on its currency. This means that the price increase in the aforementioned markets is a price correction made to reflect the PlayStation 5 price in the respective markets to that of the console’s value in USD.
