PS5 Prices To Increase In Set Markets Due To Economic Factors

Through a blog post, PlayStation has announced that due to factors such as global economic environment and inflation rates, the price of PS5 will be increasing in select markets

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”.

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Najam Ul Hassan is a News Reporter on eXputer who enjoys investing hours in his favorite video game titles. When he’s not playing games, he’s practicing Journalism. He began his career on eXputer after combining his limitless love of video games and all things geek with his considerable writing experience. He has been cited numerous times by several noteworthy publications and sites such as Game Rant, Yahoo, PlayStation LifeStyle, VGC, VG247, TheGamer, among others. Experience: 2+ Years || Education: Masters in Mass Media Communication || Written 300+ News Stories.

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