Sony has revealed some unexpected news for PlayStation 5 consumers.
In their own words:
“With a backdrop of a challenging economic environment, including high inflation and fluctuating exchange rates, SIE has made the tough decision to raise the recommended retail price (RRP) of the PlayStation 5 console in select markets in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Australia and New Zealand.”
They shared these updated prices for these respective regions:
Europe PlayStation 5 Digital Edition – €499.99
UK PlayStation 5 Digital Edition – £429.99
Australia PlayStation 5 Digital Edition – AUD $ 749.95
Australia PlayStation 5 Standard Edition – AUD $ 829.95
New Zealand PlayStation 5 Digital Edition – NZD $ 859.95
New Zealand PlayStation 5 Standard Edition – NZD $ 949.95
Sony went on to explain that other countries and regions in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia can also have price increases.
To counterbalance the news somewhat, they confirmed that the standard edition PlayStation 5s are not changing in price in Europe and the UK. Furthermore, there are no plans to raise the price even further for the PlayStation 5 Pro in any country or region mentioned here.
They are also instituting small price drops for the PlayStation 5 Disc Drive, for those who are planning to upgrade their Digital Edition consoles down the line.
This follows price increases for the PlayStation 5 that have been ongoing in Japan for years. Last August 2024, there was a particularly steep price increase that led to PlayStation 5 consoles going up for a minimum of $ 800 in value for buyers in Japan.
It hasn’t been a week since DFC Intelligence claimed in their market analysis that they expected hardware prices for game consoles to rise by 20 % in the next two years. There was some confusion in that analysis, as some media thought it was referring only to the Switch 2.
This news provides a clearer picture of DFC’s analysis. While PlayStation has not officially announced a price increase in the US, it’s now clear that that’s a clear possibility. DFC did not comment on this, but we believe this isn’t about Sony looking for a good time to announce it. Instead, they have a specific internal metric, possibly related to the profitability of each console sold, and that is what they’re going to use to decide when to finally pull the trigger.
As of the moment, Microsoft has yet to announce price increases for their Xbox consoles. They did overhaul Game Pass with price increases back in July 2024. If Microsoft really does do more business on Game Pass than Xbox consoles nowadays, they may keep console prices steady as part of an effort to entice buyers.
DFC opined that they don’t expect the Switch 2 to increase in price further, but of course, DFC updates their analyses a few times a year. So we’ll see how they will recalibrate expectations in the next quarter. If you already have a console as you’re reading this, it would be prudent not to upgrade or even switch platforms at this time.
