Yesterday, we shared the announcement of the upcoming PlayStation Days of Play sale. Astoundingly, Sony will be offering discounts to their PlayStation 5 as well as other hardware, including a first time $ 50 discount on the PlayStation 5 Pro.
This is, without any doubt, a great deal for gamers, especially after Nintendo revealed the Switch 2 would have a base price of $ 450, and Microsoft increased prices for their Xbox consoles across the board. In fact, it’s news that looks at little too good, and makes one wonder what’s going on behind it.
While it’s true that Sony is doing well with the PlayStation 5 in general, there are issues with their broader video game business that this does not address. We know very well that their live service initiative has been turning out poorly, but it’s also true that their most prolific first party developer of this generation, Insomniac Games, was shockingly not spared from company layoffs last year.
It doesn’t seem like Sony could afford to do real price cuts on their products, especially since their PlayStation 5 consoles are supposed to be loss leaders for the money that should be in their software sales. So what are the industry analysts saying about this?
David Gibson of MST Financial shared his succinct insight on Twitter:
Surge in sales before they raise prices because of tariffs. IF you wanted one this is the best chance.
Daniel Ahmad of Niko Partners shares the sentiment, but also provided a more detailed explanation. He said this, also on Twitter:
Stockpiles prior to tariffs + the 90 day tariff pause + resumption of shipments is allowing Sony to run deals this month. Sony already raised prices in some markets and is considering future increases. If no US-China deal by August 14, a price increase is back on the table.
As you may remember, we did cover the many price increases that Sony made for the PlayStation 5 in countries and regions outside the US. PlayStation 5 prices in Japan are particularly shocking, as their steep prices have reached the point where Japanese gamers are renting PlayStation 5 consoles.
Sony somehow lucked out that they could have this sale now, but it could have definitely turned out very differently. If the US government did not make a tentative deal with China regarding retaliatory tariffs, they would have definitely been forced to raise prices by now.
If gamers are lucky, this issue of tariffs won’t blow up again in the future. Because this sale only runs June 11 for a reason. If things turn south, not only is it inevitable that PlayStation will see some price increases, but Nintendo and Microsoft, and also Steam and every portable Windows handheld maker, will have to compensate with more price changes in the future as well.
If there’s anything you need to learn from this right now, it’s that if you wanted to get any PlayStation hardware, you don’t want to miss this sale. There are no guarantees, but this might be your last chance to get them this cheap.
