It’s unbelievable: it could be the first example of Sony not cutting the price of a console but increasing it…

Jim Ryan, soon to become PlayStation’s Don Mattrick (under his leadership, the Xbox One was announced as a console that requires a constant internet connection, preventing used game sales… and Sony took advantage of it, to which the Redmond-based company had to act on), the president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, has justified the price increase on the PlayStation Blog:

“The global economic environment is a challenge that many worldwide are undoubtedly experiencing. We’re seeing high global inflation rates and adverse currency trends impacting consumers and creating pressure on many industries. Based on these challenging economic conditions, Sony Interactive Entertainment has decided to increase the recommended retail price (RRP) of PlayStation 5 in select markets… There will be no price increase in the United States.”

While the dollar is already stronger than the euro, it’s a fact that with different sales tax rates per state (it varies significantly within the US), the PlayStation 5 could have been more expensive. Still, so far, it’s been the exact dollar-to-euro conversion, and PS5 games cost ten euros MORE in Europe. Likely, Sony has not raised the price in the US because the Xbox Series is a more significant competitor, and they don’t want to lose one of the important markets. We’ll now list the regions affected, the price increase in the currency used, and then the new price for PlayStation 5 Standard Edition and PlayStation 5 Digital Edition; the new price is already in effect everywhere except Japan, where they’re screwing up the price from September 15:

Europe (+€50): 550/450 EUR; UK (+£30): 480/390 GBP; Japan (+5000 yen): 54980/44980 JPY, China (+400 yuan): 4299/3499 RMB; Australia (+AUD $50): 799.95/649.95 AUD, Mexico (+MXN $1,000): 14999/12499 MXN, Canada (+CAD $20): 650/520 CAD.

We have already written about Nintendo that they have no intention of raising the price, but we have not yet heard from Microsoft whether they will follow Sony’s example. We are happy to say that they won’t: in a statement sent to Windows Central, the company said so: “We are constantly evaluating our business to offer our fans great gaming options. Our Xbox Series S suggested retail price remains at $299 (£250, €300). The Xbox Series X is $499 (£450, €500).”

And that’s a pretty smart move. Microsoft can afford to make a loss on console sales because it has plenty of money through Game Pass and other activities (Azure, Windows, Office…). However, Sony is raising prices despite record profits. Recently, Meta pushed up the cost of Quest headsets, so Jim Ryan made a rather unpopular move (fans don’t like it much either, browse the comments section of the PS Blog…), but let’s be honest: it has never happened before in Sony’s history. The PlayStation 4 Pro isn’t a fitting example, as it was a more powerful console, so the higher price made sense. Nearly two years after the console’s launch, they should have reduced the price instead.

In the end, will there be any talk about restoring the original price or lowering it later?

Source: Gematsu, PCGamer