Sony announced that it is increasing the price of the PlayStation 5 at retail in select markets due to inflation and currency trends. Notably, the price in the U.S. will not be affected.
“The global economic environment is a challenge that many of you around the world are no doubt experiencing,” says PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan in a statement on the PlayStation Blog. “We’re seeing high global inflation rates, as well as adverse currency trends, impacting consumers and creating pressure on many industries.”
The price increase will impact both the digital and disc versions of the console. The new prices are as follows:
- Europe
- PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – 550 euros
- PS5 Digital Edition – 450 euros
- U.K.
- PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – 480 British pounds
- PS5 Digital Edition – 390 British pounds
- Japan (starting on September 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 – $800 AUD
- PS5 Digital Edition – $650 AUD
- Mexico
- PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – 14,999 Mexican pesos
- PS5 Digital Edition – 12,499 Mexican pesos
- Canada
- PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – $650 CAD
- PS5 Digital Edition – $520 CAD
The video game market has been hit hard due to the global semiconductor shortage, which is certainly one of the factors that lead to this price increase. It’s uncertain whether the price increase will eventually come to the U.S., as Sony can always change its mind in the future.
Sony also isn’t the only company to increase the price of its products. Meta hiked up the price for Quest 2 by $100 last month. A few weeks ago, Nintendo confirmed that it would not increase the price of the Switch, while Microsoft has not publicly stated anything regarding the price of the Xbox Series X/S.
