Sony increases prices for PlayStation 5 consoles across many regions immediately

Sony revealed major news about its PlayStation 5 consoles in the early hours of Thursday morning. The console prices are increasing around the world.

Prices for the PlayStation 5 with and without a disc drive will rise immediately in at most six regions. Japan will join the price-hike party on September 15. Sony has announced price increases in some of its most important gaming regions, but it also warns that price hikes may be coming to “selected markets”. These territories include those in the Asia-Pacific region, Central, South America, and the large group of countries that make up the EMEA (European, Middle East and Africa).

Sony has decided to exclude the United States from its price-hike plans for the moment.

* Japan’s price hike will not go into effect until September 15, 2022.

The price rise appears to have been a flat amount in each affected region for both PS5 model. Today’s news is more severe for PS5 models with disc drives, which are less affordable. Canada has the best price increase today, but Japan, Europe and China are tied for the worst PS5 price rises.

Sony attributes the price increases across the board to two main economic factors: rising inflation, and historically lows for Japanese yen. The US’s purchasing power is not immune to these issues so it’s uncertain whether Sony’s assurance of “no price rise in the United States” is an unambiguous one.

Are you disappointed by the PSVR2’s upcoming release?

Similar news was provided by Meta’s virtual reality division which decided to increase prices for its Quest 2VR system late last month. Meta attempted to reduce the negative impact of its $100 across the board price hike by providing a free copy of its popular rhythm-action video game. Beat SaberThis product is normally available for $30.

Sony has not yet indicated that it will offer any freebies via downloadable software as part of its price-hike plan. However, its price increase doesn’t seem to exceed 13% in any region. This is in contrast to Meta’s 25 percent or 33 percent price hike depending on which model you choose.

Curiously though, Sony’s Tuesday launch window announcement about its next virtual-reality system, PlayStation VR2, didn’t suggest a retail pricing. Sony may be keeping this information secret to give it more time to price the PS5 add-on in light of current market realities. This may lead to some rethinking of our previous guesses regarding PSVR2 pricing.

Kyle Orland, an Ars Technica journalist, recently studied the history of console prices. However, his analysis mainly focused on the Nintendo Switch, which is a 2017 console with a higher price-to-performance ratio. Orland’s analysis suggests that the price of this console, which is a huge seller, might have fallen to between $150 and $180 in America if it had been priced according to historical trends. Switch has remained at its original MSRP worldwide due to a combination economic factors including a shortage of chips and high demand for an old gaming system.

Orland’s report was prompted partly by Nintendo promising investors and financial watchdogs that Switch’s cost would not rise in Japan. No similar promises were made by either Microsoft or Sony’s Xbox division prior to Thursday’s PS5 news. Microsoft enjoys several advantages over Sony in an inflation-prone market. These include a wider financial portfolio, more than twice the cash reserves of Sony and a lower reliance on Japan’s yen. It will be interesting to see if Microsoft continues to absorb the inflation-related costs associated with keeping its Xbox console prices static.