PlayStation is selling its PS5s at a loss in its own home country, but it is a risk the company is willing to take. According to SIE president Hideaki Nishino, it could not afford to lose the attention of Japanese players.

While it is true that the PS5 launch was fairly even worldwide in 2020, aside from limited availability and pre-orders, PlayStation followed Nintendo‘s lead and announced in November 2025 a PlayStation 5 exclusive to Japan. Like its Japanese counterparts, the company would limit this console to the Japanese market, making it available only in Japanese and, obviously, cheaper. In fact, as confirmed by Hideaki Nishino, this model exclusive to the Land of the Rising Sun has been, and continues to be, sold at a loss, but for the Japanese, the sacrifice is worthwhile.

Nishino, president of Sony Interactive Entertainment, or SIE, addressed this situation in an interview with Famitsu, where he emphasized the strategic investment and expansion for the brand that this decision represents. The reason was obvious: to attract more players to their ecosystem and revive player interest in a market as important as Japan, which they had been losing over the years.

PS5 Only

Furthermore, the Sony executive confirmed that the company was aware that, due to exchange rate fluctuations, there was a detrimental trend for Japanese gamers: many retailers were exporting consoles sold in Japan to other countries. “Given this situation, we decided it was crucial to ensure that the PS5 was sold correctly and directly to our Japanese customers”, he added.

That is why the decision was made to launch a console exclusive to Japan, priced at 55,000 yen, roughly €299.36 at today’s exchange rate. Although it was a digital-only version, it was approximately 40% cheaper than the same hardware in the West. “By offering a more affordable price compared to the multilingual digital edition – this country-exclusive version was limited to the country’s language and only worked with Japanese accounts – we hope to further revitalize the Japanese gaming community and market, which is a key market for us.”

Sony’s Strategy Has a Problem: It Does Not Cover the Costs of the Current Crisis

However, the strategy was implemented at a loss. As Nishino confirmed, selling the console 40% cheaper than in other markets during a time marked by the storage and memory crisis, as well as inflation, has a clear consequence: the player’s investment does not cover the console’s production costs, but it was an acceptable risk. “While we will not disclose specific figures, we plan to recover costs across all our business operations. Although the business situation differs from that of overseas markets, we hope it is understood that this is a significant and necessary investment for the Japanese market.”

However, the executive also clarified that this investment does not imply prioritizing Japan over other markets. Nishino stated that the company maintains a global perspective and distributes its investments in a balanced way, although in this specific case it has decided to strengthen its presence in the Japanese market, which does not mean that other markets are secondary. “Because we operate globally, we neither prioritize nor minimize any particular market”, he explained.

This strategy also comes at a time when some industry executives, such as Capcom president Haruhito Tsujimoto, have pointed to the high price of consoles as a barrier to entry for new players, especially considering the popularity of the Japanese brand’s games on the country’s console. “This is not an easily affordable price, especially for younger generations. This situation is not limited to Japan; it is similar abroad,” Tsujimoto stated at the time.

Source: 3DJuegos