Sony officially announced that the PlayStation 5 is about to become more expensive in most markets. It’s bumping the price up due to “challenging economic conditions” and its ongoing supply problems.
The company listed out the new retail prices for the console in Europe, the UK, Japan, China, Australia, Mexico and Canada in a blog post. The only major market that Sony explicitly said would not receive a price increase is the United States.
As for why the company is increasing the price, Sony Interactive Entertainment president Jim Ryan said in the blog post: “We’re seeing high global inflation rates, as well as adverse currency trends, impacting consumers and creating pressure on many industries.” This echoes the reasons of Meta, which increased the price of the Meta Quest 2 last month citing an increase in “the costs to make and ship our products.”
The PlayStation 5 is already something of a unicorn, in that users are having a difficult time finding one thanks to the component shortages. Ryan acknowledged the lacking supply, saying, “[Our] 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.”