The "challenging economic environment", as Sony puts it, is pushing some American companies to their limits as Donald Trump imposes tariffs to everywhere. And Sony Interactive Entertainment, whose consoles and accesories are manufactured mainly in China, also suffers from the situation. As such, they have announced a price hike for PlayStation 5.
Honestly, we can't remember how many times the price of these consoles (counting the different editions like PS5 Digital, PS5 Slim, PS5 Pro) have hiked. This time, it's only for the US market, but it's significant.
"We've made the difficult decision to increase the recommended retail price for PlayStation 5 consoles in the U.S. starting on August 21", said Sony. The new prices are:
PlayStation 5 - $549.99 (up from $499.99)
PlayStation 5 Digital Edition - $499.99 (up from $449.99, originally launched at $399.99)
PlayStation 5 Pro - $749.99 (up from $699)
That is a $50 price increase on PS5, PS5 Digital and PS5 Pro (around 42,88 euros, 37.13 pounds). But taking into consideration previous price hikes, the Digital Edition, which was released as a low cost alternative for the console, now costs as much as the regular PS5 cost back in November 2020.
Prices for accesories and other products remain unchanged. Nintendo did a similar thing early this month, increasing the price for Nintendo Switch consoles and accesories (and only for the original Switch models). This only affects the United States, not Canada nor anywhere else.