Sony has increased the PlayStation 5 price, effective immediately, in most markets around the world.
The console’s cost will rise by £30 in the UK and €50 in Europe, to £480/€550, or £390/€450 for the console’s disc-less digital version.
Elsewhere around the world, Japan, China, Australia, Mexico and Canada will also see price rises. But the US will not see a price rise at this time.
PlayStation boss Jim Ryan confirmed the price hikes this morning, and blamed “high global inflation rates, as well as adverse currency trends, impacting consumers and creating pressues on many industries”.
Ryan said the move had been a “difficult decision”, and that Sony’s top priority remained “improving the PS5 supply situation so that as many players as possible can experience everything that PS5 offers and what’s still to come.
Reacting to the news this morning, industry analyst Piers Harding-Rolls wrote that – however unpopular this move might be – the changes were unlikely to dent pent up demand, or Sony’s bottom line.
“We believe there will be disappointment for some consumers that have been trying to buy a PS5 without success, or that were saving to buy the console just in time for the price to increase,” Harding-Rolls wrote. “[But] the high pent up demand for Sony’s device means that this price increase of around 10 percent across most markets will have minimal impact on sales of the console. We expect Sony’s sales forecast for the PS5 to remain unchanged.”