Sony recently announced what PlayStation fans were hoping wouldn’t happen: the PlayStation 5 is getting more expensive in the U.S. Starting today, August 21, every model of the console now has a $50 price increase.
These are the new prices for the Sony PlayStation 5 lineup:
- PS5 Digital Edition: $499.99 (up from $449.99)
- PS5 Standard (disc version): $549.99 (up from $499.99)
- PS5 Pro: $749.99 (up from $699.99)
Accessories like the DualSense controller and PlayStation Portal will stay at their current prices, and Sony also isn’t increasing international pricing, the hikes are only in the United States.
What’s the Reason Behind Sony PS5’s Price Hike?
Sony says it’s due to a “challenging economic environment” which is corporate speak for high manufacturing costs, global inflation, and tariffs on imported electronics. A big part of this is the U.S.-China trade tensions. Most PS5s are made in China, and US tariffs on Japanese companies including Sony have eaten into margins.
Sony CFO Lin Tao warned earlier this year that tariffs alone could cost the company 100 billion yen (around $684 million). It’s not the first time Sony has raised the console prices. In 2023, they raised the costs in Europe, UK, Australia, and other regions with high inflation and exchange rate fluctuations being put to blame. US was spared then, but that grace period is over.
A Break From Console Tradition
Consoles usually see a price drop the longer they’ve been on shelves. PS5 launched in late 2020 at $499 for the disc model and $399 for the Digital Edition, and most people expected prices to drop over time. Instead, Sony has gone the other way, not just holding prices steady but raising them multiple times, including a $50 price bump for the Digital Slim last year.
Sony admitted last year that shrinking the PS5’s chipset die size (a common way to reduce production costs) has been unusually difficult, leaving the console makers with few options to cut down expenses.
Sony is Not the Only Console Maker to Blame
Sony isn’t alone in raising market costs. Microsoft increased Xbox Series prices on consoles and accessories earlier this year, and the Xbox Series X now sits at $600 in the U.S. Nintendo also nudged prices higher on hardware and software, with $70+ Switch games being the norm. In short, this is a gaming console industry-wide trend, not only a Sony problem.
Still, the optics aren’t great. U.S. players have already voiced frustration over paying more for consoles and titles at the same time, when the overall gaming market has slowed down. PS5 is the first PlayStation that’s gotten more expensive mid-cycle in the U.S., and that flips console history on its head. Yes, inflation and tariffs are real issues, but passing the costs directly to players risks pushing many toward PC or cloud alternatives.
That said, Sony knows it’s sitting on the strongest U.S. market base in the console space, and it’s betting most fans will still pony up. The question is whether this gamble pays off long-term, or if sticker shock will slow down the momentum of what has been the best-selling console of this generation.
