Is the cost of a PlayStation 5 set to rise? New comments from Sony suggest the Japanese games maker is considering a price hike of some kind.
The news first came to light following the company's most recent financial results for its first quarter, where Sony chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki refused to rule out the possibility of a price increase for its next-gen console in light of the global chip shortage. How much of rise in cost this could be is yet to be determined, though you would have to imagine anything more than $100 / £100 / AU$200 would be a huge detriment to sales, likely pricing out many consumers.
“About a potential price increase for the PS5, at this point in time there is nothing specific I can share with you about prices," said Totoki (as translated by VGC).
Sony began raising the costs of a number of electronics across Japan in April this year, including a rise of between 3% to 31% in price for headphones, Blu-Ray players, cameras, speakers and more – hence, why speculation suggests its games hardware could be next.
A PS5 currently costs $499 / £449.99 / AU$749.95, while a digital version (no disc drive) is available at $399.99 / £359.99 / AU$599.95. Since the console launched in November 2020, this price has remained the same, however, stock issues prevailed for more than the first 14 months globally, and are still not solved entirely in the US. Thankfully, Amazon recently introduced a new system that makes obtaining a PS5 a hell of a lot easier.
Last week, Sony began testing 1440p support and a host of other new features – including folders – as part of its latest system software beta update. Meanwhile, the company just re-launched its PS Plus service that now arrives with the adorable cat platformer Stray as part of its top two tiers. Well worth checking out.
If you are thinking of getting a console before any potential price hike takes effect, head on over to T3's PS5 restock tracker to find out where to get a console now.
