Sony is upping the prices of PlayStation 5, seemingly in response to President Trump’s tariffs. The new prices began on August 21.
Sony shared the news in a short blog post titled “PlayStation 5 price changes in the U.S.” and credited to Isabelle Tomatis, the Vice President, Global Marketing, Sony Interactive Entertainment.
The blog stated, “Similar to many global businesses, we continue to navigate a challenging economic environment. As a result, we’ve made the difficult decision to increase the recommended retail price for PlayStation 5 consoles in the U.S. starting on August 21.”
The company shared its new recommended retail costs: The PlayStation 5 is now $549.99, the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition is now $499.99, and the PlayStation 5 Pro is now $749.99. In each case, the price went up about $50.
The blog post did not mention President Trump, the tariffs, or the trade war. But it’s not as if we weren’t warned about this likelihood. In May, Lin Tao, the Sony CFO, acknowledged in an earnings call that the company’s hardware, gaming and semiconductor productions would be impacted by the tariffs. As a result, she brought up the possibility of prices going up.
The pre-orders of Switch 2 were also delayed because of tariffs.
Sony finished its blog post by saying, “The recommended retail prices for PlayStation 5 accessories remain unchanged, and we have no other price changes to announce for additional markets.”
Japan is dealing with 15% tariffs. Initially, President Trump said he wanted Japan to be tariffed at 24%, and the Japanese government has tried to negotiate.
This month Sony officials also stated, “It is difficult to speak to our hardware pricing strategy as that has implications for our future competitive strategy. But we intend to take a flexible approach to such decision-making by monitoring consumer price sensitivity as we think about total full-year segment profits, lifetime value, manufacturing, units sold in, and our content sales potential.”
____
Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
Sony is upping the prices of PlayStation 5, seemingly in response to President Trump’s tariffs. The new prices began on August 21. Sony shared the news in a short blog post titled “PlayStation 5 price changes in the U.S.” and credited to Isabelle Tomatis, the Vice President, Global Marketing, Sony Interactive Entertainment. The blog stated,… Otaku USA Magazine