Game Developer Adjusts Price Amid Market Pressure

Sony a multinational conglomerate in Japan, has adjusted prices of most of its PlayStation 5 console hardware in the UK, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand by 10-15 per cent, blaming “a challenging economic environment.”

Sony manufactures the majority of its PlayStation 5 hardware in China, now subject to 145 per cent tariffs on imports into the US, and game consoles aren’t included in the pause on some tech tariffs announced Friday. A price increase in other markets may be a way of limiting how sharply prices will need to rise in the US, which is a key market for Sony.

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The main target for increment is the Digital Edition of the PS5 which rises in all four markets, while the standard version which includes a disc drive is only going up in Australia and New Zealand.

Across all four markets, the PlayStation 5 Pro remains the same price. Sony is also slightly decreasing the price of its add-on disc drive accessory.

While announcing the change, Sony blamed it on “high inflation and fluctuating exchange rates,” though made no mention of Trump’s tariffs or increased import costs into the US, where prices are remaining the same for now.

Analyst Serkan Toto said, he “would be very surprised if Sony was able to keep the PlayStation prices in the US stable,” calling now “the ‘right’ time” for the company to raise prices.

This is the second time Sony has hiked up the price of a PS5 in most of these markets, after doing the same in August 2022. That time Sony similarly blamed “high global inflation rates, as well as adverse currency trends,” but specifically noted that it wouldn’t raise prices in the US.

However, there’s no such confirmation this time around.

Verge