PS5 Prices To Increase In Set Markets Due To Economic Factors

The PS5 has, indubitably, proven to be a dominant player in not only the console gaming market but within Sony as well. Last year, it became the fastest-selling PlayStation console and has offered tough competition to its rival consoles. With gaming on the rise and becoming quite a prevalent industry, even more so than in the previous decades, one can be sure that being a dominant player in the market would award particular merits.

This, however, does also come with its fair share of problems. Increased demand also necessitates increased production of units to keep up with the demand, which has been a cause for concern for quite some time. COVID severely affected the global market, coupled with problems arising from supply chain issues and hardware shortages.

While the price hike “is a necessity given the current global economic environment and its impact on SIE’s business, our top priority continues to be improving the PS5 supply situation,” wrote Jim Ryan, President and CEO of Sony’s gaming arm Sony Interactive Entertainment.

The main target of the price increase, in particular, is the storage drive that comes equipped with the PS5. This of course is a byproduct of the global semiconductor chip shortage, which has hiked up the prices of storage devices and the like worldwide and has been plaguing the market for quite some time now.

A brief summary of the price changes:

• Europe
  • PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – €549.99
  • Digital Edition – €449.99

• UK
  • PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – £479.99
  • Digital Edition – £389.99

• Japan (effective Sept. 15, 2022)
  • PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – ¥60,478 yen (including tax)
  • Digital Edition – ¥49,478 yen (including tax)

• China
  • PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – ¥4,299 yuan 
  • Digital Edition – ¥3,499 yuan

• Australia
  • PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – AUD $799.95
  • Digital Edition – AUD $649.95

• Mexico
  • PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – MXN $14,999
  • Digital Edition – MXN $12,499

• Canada
  • PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – CAD $649.99
  • Digital Edition – CAD $519.99

As can be seen, the price will remain the same in the USA. This is owed to the fact that in the USA, Sony has locked horns with Microsoft and the PS5 is in competition with the Xbox Series X. As Microsoft has been ramping up its subscription-based services and gained quite a foothold in the market, Sony can not afford to lose its competitive edge via a price hike, as it aims to sell 18 million units of the PS5 in the current financial year after selling 11.5 million units in the year ended March.

Further, Jim Ryan wrote in the respective blog post, “We’re seeing high global inflation rates, as well as adverse currency trends, impacting consumers and creating pressure on many industries”.