In recent years, after a console has been on the market for a while, we get the inevitable price drop alongside the release of a “higher-end” version of that console. That time is still a ways off for PlayStation 5, but it may be even further away than we thought as Sony has announced that it is increasing or will increase the price of the PS5 in several regions. The PS5 price hike will be different depending on where you live, but it will impact countries across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Asia-Pacific (APAC), Latin America (LATAM), and Canada.
Basically, every major market except the US seems to be hit by this PS5 price increase. According to Sony, the reasoning behind it is inflation driving up the cost of production of the consoles. Like most consoles, the PS5 started selling at a loss, though somewhere in 2021 it was supposedly making a profit on each console. That may have changed thanks to increasing inflation and supply chain issues, so Sony is taking a pretty unprecedented step of bumping up the cost of a console. (Although, Meta did recently announce a price hike for the Meta Quest 2 for the same reason.)
Of course, this price hike is in conjunction with the fact that the PS5 is still limited in supply and can be tough to find despite being released in 2020. Those same supply chain issues that are helping to increase the price are also decreasing Sony’s ability to produce the console itself, though they state that their “top priority continues to be improving the PS5 supply situation so that as many players as possible can experience everything that PS5 offers and what’s still to come.”
We’ll have to wait and see if the other console manufacturers follow suit. The Switch wasn’t expensive in the first place, so Nintendo may be able to avoid any price hikes. But Microsoft could be the next to move its console price up.
You can see how the PS5 price increase will affect you below:
- Europe
- PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – €549.99
- PS5 Digital Edition – €449.99
- UK
- PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – £479.99
- PS5 Digital Edition – £389.99
- Japan (effective Sept. 15, 2022)
- PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – ¥60,478 yen (including tax)
- PS5 Digital Edition – ¥49,478 yen (including tax)
- China
- PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – ¥4,299 yuan
- PS5 Digital Edition – ¥3,499 yuan
- Australia
- PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – AUD $799.95
- PS5 Digital Edition – AUD $649.95
- Mexico
- PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – MXN $14,999
- PS5 Digital Edition – MXN $12,499
- Canada
- PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – CAD $649.99
- PS5 Digital Edition – CAD $519.99
