Sony has failed to rule out a potential PS5 price increase, as it said there is “nothing specific to share” on the subject. Speaking to investors in an earnings call earlier in the week, the company was asked about a hypothetical hike after it bumped the MSRP of a number of its home electronics, including cameras, headphones, speakers, and more. The semiconductor shortage has been blamed for the changes, alongside increased costs of raw materials, manufacturing, and distribution.
“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 the firm’s financial bigwig Hiroki Totoki, as reported by VGC. Earlier this week, Meta made the unprecedented move of increasing the price of its various Meta Quest 2 headsets by $100, citing similar cost increases to those mentioned above.
However, PlayStation has been bullish with its plans for PS5, sticking to its 18 million units shipment target for the coming fiscal year – and presumably it intends to sell every single one of those. To be fair, the company has been forcing bundles on consumers of late, with the $549.99 Horizon Forbidden West console now the de facto option – although this does, of course, include the game. Aloy’s sophomore adventure has been topping various sales charts around the world as a result.
The reality is that Sony probably could get away with increasing the price and still selling through its inventory, but the optics would be bad – especially if Microsoft doesn’t make any adjustments to the Xbox Series X|S’ price. Ultimately, these are tough challenges for the manufacturer to navigate: the PS5 is healthy and selling strong, but for reasons outside of the company’s control, we get the distinct impression this generation isn’t quite going according to plan. It’s going to take nimble decision making moving forward to maintain the brand’s position of strength.
[source videogameschronicle.com]
Comments 70
I don't see Sony raising the price of PS5, I'm interested to see what price PSVR2 launches at though.
Can't see it happening given Sony's sales forecasts and the fact that stock is now starting to improve. Cost of living crisis etc. would make it an especially bad look.
I don't think it's impossible, personally. The reality is they could sell it at a higher price, as the thing still sells out immediately. Obviously there'll come a point where supply does ultimately outpace demand, but with costs rising, I wouldn't completely rule it out.
It would of course look bad, though — especially when they already have the image of the more "expensive" option, with their $70 games, etc.
I mean they thought selling Games for 80€ is a great idea so everything is possible lol
@Notoriousmakavel "It's Ridge Racer... RIIIIIIDGE RAAAACEEEER!... Remember that one?"
Doubt it, given the fact that PS5 is reportedly not being sold at a loss, unlike many other consoles this far into their generations. The Quest thing is kind of a dangerous precedent but Meta has been making all sorts of questionable decisions lately so I wouldn't be surprised if it backfired at them.
Really would be a bad move. I bet many people (including myself) paid more then what we wanted for the system. I don’t think Sony wants the backlash at this point
@Voltan It's not being sold at a loss but I imagine the margins are razor thin and costs are seemingly going up rather than coming down...
@get2sammyb Yeah, that's fair. I still don't think there's gonna be a hike. "Nothing to share" is just a safe way to say it, just in case.
I'll go with the Xbox if the price of the ps5 goes up when I can eventually get one lol
Doubt it, but I guess they can’t rule it out completely.
The scalpers are already increasing the prices way beyond RRP, it wouldn't be fair for Sony to do the same, it's like they would be taking the mick aswell, glad I brought my ps5 when I did
@get2sammyb I think the reason that Quest 2's price has gone up is that the division that makes it lost about nearly 3 billion. I think what Sony will do will either make a PS5 Pro with a high markup or start selling bundles with 2 to 3 games.
If Sony raised the price of the PS5 then the PR backlash would be insurmountable.
@huyi you know the RRP is set by Sony, right? Raising prices as a result of (genuine) external factors isn’t the same as scalpers just bumping the price due to high demand/low availability
@AdamNovice Certainly doesn't help, does it! Although as mentioned in the article, a lot of Sony's other electronics are going up.
Different scenario, of course, as PS5 makes all its money from software unlike headphones, etc!
I guess they will wait and see if the market bears the Facebook vr headset price increase. Personally, think this would be the absolute worst marketing ever. Surely a more expensive version with a bigger sd that yields more profit would be a smarter play than changing the price of the launch models
Sony are also the biggest gaming company. They make most of their money from game and microtransaction sales. With MS expanding beyond just console and having a low price console option, for Sony to raise the price of their console would be unnecessary, if not idiotic.
Just eat the cost. Xbox is the red headed step child of Microsoft and has never needed to be a cash cow with all the government contracts. Playstation is more like Sony favorite son lol. Granted Sony deals in Healthcare and insurance in Asia so its not their only avenue for money by any means.
@Nyne11Tyme why should we as a consumer tho? That is really a silly thing to do, if the price is not right why should we pay? It's like when your rent goes up by 100 quid for reasons, would you stick it up and pay it or do something about it?
I doubt they’ll raise the price of the configurations they have now. They might sell a more premium system for a higher price. Maybe a 1.6 TB model for $700 and then just make most those. Bit like how the digits lamely PS5 exists but very few are being produced.
The optics of selling the same thing for a higher price are so bad I doubt it do it. But I doubt it’s ever going to fall below the current price.
@R1spam that would be justified because there is a change in the sku of the console, different price ranges for different storage sizes would be justified but raising the prices for no reason and hell even if Sony reduce the quality of the hardware how many people would eat that up then?
The way I see it, if this happens, its going to be a forced bundle kind of deal.
Like, digital version for $600 bundled with one game of their picking and an extra controller, similar for a $700 bundle (dont expect a disk for the free game there either,) then stop stocking the base models.
If sony do raise the price then that's just going to kill off this gen for them, why would people spend £500-£600 on a next gen console when they can get one for £250, especially with inflation and price of oil, gas and electricity going up as well.
If anything sony should be working on a cheaper version like the series S
@huyi it isn't for no reason though....material costs are increasing. Not saying I agree just that their bottom line is being hit.
@UltimateOtaku91 Nah, disagree with that. I think multiple options is a mistake imo.
I think Sony will go from bundle to bundle given the HFW bundle has given HFW huge success. Currently the only PS5 bundle somewhat readily available is the HFW one then they introduce a GoW Ragnarok one, afterwards a PSVR2 + Horizon Call of the Mountain one, a Spider-Man 2 one, a Wolverine one, etc. for their new non-live service games (assuming Spider-Man 2 and Wolverine are not live service games that is).
Considering the current economic situation all over the world, it would be the most out of touch move possible.
So yeah, Sony's probably gonna do it.
If anything the price should be coming down.
Here's the hard fact. If Last of Us Past 1 retails for £70, then they'll use the justification that a ground up new game can then be sold for £80+!
I'm calling it now that next gen only games like Wolverine and whatnot that don't have a PS4 version will soon be priced at +£80.
Oh dear this would be a really bad move on their part. Bundles are fine but if they raise the price of the base console... oh man I shudder to think of the PR backlash that would bring. It would be deserved too. You can't go up on your launch price. Only down.
A news article from just recently was talking about how Sony is upset about player engagement decreasing. Raising the price of your system is not going to help that.
Glad I got mine two weeks ago….
The PS5 bundles with Horizon Forbidden West are already a bad business practice in my opinion.
Personally, I will never again buy anything from GAME since at Christmas time they would bundle useless junk into their PS5 bundles and bump the price up to £650+ because they added a t-shirt and some headphones and some games and so on. And they still do it now. Screw them.
A lot of us live on tight budgets. I had to sell my PS5 due to money issues we had as a family (which are now largely resolved) but I haven’t bought a new PS5 yet as can’t find one at RRP.
If they raised the price after the profits they have enjoyed its just a slap in the face to those of us who are supporting them but on a tight budget.
They won’t raise it but they will ajust the price of the PSVR2 and PS5 “PRO” accordingly though. But again, in Canada the PS5 is already more expensive since launch even though the two next gen consoles are the same price in the US so I wouldn’t be surprised if they end up jacking it anyway.
Generally, a lot of companies are looking at their ranges right now and asking where they can increase price, needed it not. When prices are rising across the board it's a good time to build margin with not a lot of blame or kickback. I'd say it's a 50/50 if the do or don't but if they do they will keep on selling in the near future without any let-up. Most folk only look at the price when they want to buy and most will not be surprised to hear the price has gone up in the current market.
@Kienda I can't speak for GAME but a friend of mine owns an online shop and he told me they get these weird, expensive bundles from Sony or their wholesaler and they have to sell them like that and splitting it up isn't allowed. It varies from retailer to retailer as well.
I doubt they will raise the price. It's more likely they just won't do the traditional 3rd year price drop. So we may see a slimmer, rev 2 PS5 that's cheaper to manufacture, but the savings won't get passed on to us consumers, which is understandable.
This is what happens when masses of idiots go buy from scalpers. Now sony is convinced they didn't charge enough! At this rate I may just buy a damn steam deck instead
This would be about the worst move they could possibly make if they raised the price. I don't think they will, but if they did hypothetically, that would likely drive away plenty of people. Sure, they'd still sell the stock that trickles out because it's hard to get, but some that have struggled for a long time to get one likely would just give up completely after that. Can they really afford the extreme backlash they would get from this in the long run when they are already making extreme profits on the brand? They already get enough crap for being greedy.
its not like £450 is cheap £500 £550 would be catastrophic for sales.
Console sales have always been a loss leader it software where they make their money
I just can't wrap my head around these companies putting the prices up at a time when we are all in a bit of a crisis.
I was pretty stable when the ps5 came out and had the money to spend on the system and all the games. Fast forward to present. Im struggling to stay afloat. Petrol prices are so high, bills have increased, ive missed payments. I know many people are the same way.
So why do these multi billionaire companies think its a great idea to up the price of their goods and think more people will buy. The quest 2 putting an extra 100 on top of its price so late after it was released is crazy.
I understand prices have gone up for them to but at the end of the day they are just a luxury item already on the market and the way things are now and are heading, putting prices up for luxury isnt going to get more customers to buy.
I dont believe PlayStation will put the prices up, ps5 pro on the other hand may of ramped up and that will end up replacing ps5 for a bigger price tag and with psvr2. But again why charge more when the whole business is to sell as many as they can.
Quest 2 is crazy putting a 100 on top when facebook itself is earning quadruple the amount Sony makes, they are just greedy.
Personally i cant see the price rising if you can get the console only but i think now you will only see bundle deals..as for people saying that we paid more than we wanted it was a fair price for the console..you get posters on here saying that building a pc was the better,cheaper way to go..i'm still waiting for those guys i threw the challenge at to show me the pc they built for £450 that performs exactly the same as a ps5 in fidelity and speed..where are you guys?
@pip_muzz too late..look at the psn store..some standard editions are already creeping up to £75..sucks if you have the digital only ps5 as there is no other option for you and when they drop in a sale..its not so much a drop as a slight stagger..the prices for first party day one releases on the digital store are disgusting..totaly disgusting..
@Royalblues if it happens, there’s no way it’s temporary, unless sales actually take a massive hit. I wouldn’t be surprised if they try it, the majority of people have seemingly bought into £70 games without question.
And here is the panic. Sometimes companies don't want to answer very stupid questions.
Sony could increase prices but they'd be playing straight into M$'s hands. With few games on the PS5 that aren't on another platform (PS4/PC) then a price hike could be a nail in its coffin.
Microsoft will keep selling for £250 (XSS) and £450 (XSX) and Sony will have to suck up the lowered profits in the meantime.
What it MIGHT do, is accelerate Sony to produce a PS5 Slim (shorter, less ugly) as that will use less materials. Some of that is dependent on AMD shrinking the die size though, I suspect.
As for PS5s in bundles, I'm waiting for a PS5 (disc version, obviously) with an extra controller and charge dock. I have plenty of PS4 discs, some with free upgrades, so when I go down that route, I want to choose a game that I want (not seen one worth the admission fee yet).
@Royalblues it would only be temporary if sales took a huge hit like I said, I think you’d see a huge amount of backlash on social media (ew) and online but just like the £70/$70 price tag I think they’ll ignore it and see how it sells. If the masses continue to buy there’s no way it would ever come back down, just like anything else like TV’s or phones. Prices never come back down. Xbox wouldn’t even have to slash their console prices they’d have an instant advantage unless they followed suit of course. Sony are charging £70 for a remaster of a remaster despite some pushback online.
It would be insanity for Sony to increase their consoles price but you don’t know with Sony anymore, they don’t care.
@Royalblues If the PS5 price increases, I think there's a very strong chance that the 2020 rumours are true of Sony wanting to set PS5 at $599 but were forced to set it lower when the Series S and prices for Series X|S got leaked.
There'll be no price hike instead we'll see no price cut. PS4 got a £50 price cut just before its second birthday. I can't see PS5 getting a price cut at this stage.
Sell a PS5 Plus, where you get expanded storage and a year of Plus Extra and then bump the price for that 😁
And what happens, @get2sammyb, if in a year or so, everything calms down, with inflation returning to its norm, cost of living crisis just a horrible memory, and chips shortage becomes a thing of the past? Will they then reduce the cost of their consoles back to what it was at launch? I think we know the answer to that!
I doubt it. With recession looming this generation will probably last a long time, similar to the PS3 era. Would they make the same mistake of a high priced console, and then have to recover from that? Well, maybe.
Fastest way to encourage consumers to buy a Xbox Series X instead and basically lose this generation.
@get2sammyb A rational mind would say raising the price of the ps5 probably isn’t going to be welcomed… but then we’ve seen the majority of people on here defend £70 games and £10 upgrades pretty passionately… they’ll just do the same with a console price rise. The rational minds are rarely the loudest, you know that.
This will be spun and welcomed.
The rest will buy an Xbox series S until the ps5 is now not only in stock but also the price they originally asked for…by which point they’ll be invested in the Xbox ecosystem.
@Kienda how is a console bundle by the console maker a bad practice? They've been a thing ever since Nintendo had different bundles of the NES with different games or accessories. As long as the bundle is not more expensive than buying the game and console seperately I don't see the issue.
O they are not going to raise the price of the ps5 the internet"s childish people always get cared away just to make ***** drama because most have no life !
I don’t think Sony will raise the price. It would be PR suicide. They’d never recover from it.
But I don’t expect any price drops this generation. At all. Kids buying a PS5 6 years from now (I’m also convinced this generation will last longer than average due to a number of factors) will pay the same 499.99 I paid for my system on launch day.
Nintendo has already proven that it’s a valid strategy. The Switch has been 299.99 since it launched five years ago. Yes they did introduce the cheaper Lite but that is a totally different SKU. And with the OLED they went up 50 bucks. But they’re still selling the Mariko Switch for 299.99.
In previous generations, the Mariko Switch would have been priced at either 149.99 or 199.99 by now.
And I think the reason for this deals with the costs of manufacturing. Not just our current situation, but just in general. DF did a podcast on the subject and according to some “insiders” they talked to the price of components stopped dropping significantly around 2016 or so. It’s why the PS4 only got one significant price drop (when the Slim came out) and it’s been that official price ever since.
In the sixth generation, the PS2 launched at 299.99. By late 2002 it was at 249.99. Then the middle of 2003 it dropped down to 199.99 (the GameCube was at 99.99 by this point). Then the Slim launched in 2004 at 149.99. By early 2006 the PS2 Slim was down to 99.99, it’s final official price.
What allowed that to happen was that the manufacturing got more efficient and components got progressively cheaper to make. That isn’t happening anymore, even before Covid destroyed World manufacturing. Even when we get back to normal, the costs of components will only stay normal price instead of getting cheaper.
So basically my friends if you’re waiting on the PS5 to get a price drop, don’t expect one. Price drops for consoles are dead and have been dead since 2016.
@huyi no I mean Sony needs to eat the inflated costs of manufacturing not us. If they increased the ps5 models by 100 I think it would be devastating for them.
better off waiting for the ps5 slim in that case. it's not too far away at this point and will most certainly be cheaper than the current price of the FAT ps5 when it launches.
Clearly depends on different countries,taxes.. prices are going up for all of us. Businesses are upping prices as costs to run are higher than ever..
Bare in mind. Sony may also be planning a cheaper price...
@Netbean. Good luck with that. I placed a deposit and got on the wait list months ago and still have not received confirmation that I will even get one in the first quarter of 2023. Meanwhile scalpers are getting over $800 for the 256 gig model and between $1000 - $1200 for the 512 GB.
Should the current high inflation continue into next year a price hike of PS5 would not surprise me. In times of high inflation most everything have price increases. Hopefully this current high inflation does not extend into 2023 and 2024.
Ah the power of the ‘could?’ . The facts which are worth reporting speak for themselves.
Speculating out of a non answer is only making up or pushing some fake outrage.
People are willing to pay scalper prices, why would you (as a business) think you couldn't charge more for said product?
There's plenty of "reasons" they could use to put the price up (same one used by fuel and butter for example).
You can't view Sony as a friend, its a business at the end of the day.
PS5 is more expensive in the UK than the rest of Europe £450 = €537
€500 in Europe.
@dschons https://youtu.be/eaBUeINW_3s
Jim already said they were "watching closely" when Nintendo upped the price on the OLED Switch. Although, Nintendo added premium materials and components rather than just upping the price.
Inflation or no, though, the prices in gaming are getting ridiculous. They're not trying to grow the market anymore, they're just trying to shrink it and extract more from the same customers. The more expensive a hobby gets the more people just move on to something else eventually.
@HammerKirby3 it’s because bundles are the only option right now in the UK, almost exclusively.
It is not consumer friendly and I will not accept that it is.
The console is £450, even the cheapest £500 versions that come with Horizon Zero Dawn are forcing an extra 10% onto the price and the person buying may not want that game and therefore is forced to spend more than they want because of forced bundles.
GAME are bundling t-shirts, headphones and other cheap, non-resellable junk and increasing the price by 30-40%. It is just a garbage business practice that is anti consumer.
If these bundles were available alongside the base £450 model, I would (and always have) accepted it. In fact my PS4 was a bundle deal that was amazing value. But forcing bundles as the only option because they know they will sell due to supply/demand is just as greedy as scalpers (imho).
If they do hike up the prices, I know alot of friends that will refuse to ever buy a PS5...until they see it at a reasonable sale price in 2+ years.
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