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If you live outside of the United States and are still looking for a PlayStation 5, this is not the news you were hoping to hear about Sony’s still hard-to-get next-gen console.
Per The Guardian, Sony is increasing its PlayStation 5 console’s price by as much as 20% in every market outside of the United States.
The console is still high in demand and short in supply due to the global supply chain issues will see its price increase in the EU by 6% (£30), from £449.99 to £479.99. The disc-less version will also see the same bump from £359.99 to £389.99.
Australian gamers can also expect to dish out more mula for the PS5. Prices will go from AU$749.95 to AU$799.95 for the disc version and from AU$599.95 to AU$649.95 for the digital edition.
Other markets will see a substantial increase. Europe will experience a €50 price increase bumping up the console’s price by 10% to €549.99 (£467), while in Japan, a ¥10,498 price rise, more than 20%, takes the console to ¥60,478 (£373.74).
Sony’s Reason Behind The PlayStation 5 Price Increase
In a blog post, Jim Ryan, the president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, explained the reasoning behind the price hike. “We’re seeing high global inflation rates, as well as adverse currency trends, impacting consumers and creating pressure on many industries,” Ryan explained.
“Based on these challenging economic conditions, SIE has made the difficult decision to increase the recommended retail price (RRP) of PlayStation 5 in select markets,” Ryan continued.
Despite being short in supply, Sony has sold 10 million PS5 consoles. Whether those consoles are being used or sitting on shelves in a scalpers basement is another story.
Sony is not the first company to raise the price of its video game hardware. Meta recently raised the price of its latest virtual reality headset, the Quest VR 2, by £100, an increase of 33%, due to inflation.
We shall see if Microsoft or Nintendo will make the same move with the Xbox Series X and S or Switch consoles.
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