Japanese Gamers Aren't Impressed with PS5's Price Hike

Real bad optics.

It's a shame because I love playstation exclusives & prefer the dualshock over the Xbox controller but it's great to see consumers pushing back against greed

Considering Sony gave up on Japan a few years ago, sadly the feeling is mutual.
Maybe I'll wake up tomorrow, PS headquarters are back in Japan where they should be, they make multiple genres of games and put the gamer front and center like they used to rather than this insufferable elitist attitude they seem to have developed of late.

Here's the thing. Sony's shareholders will be delighted to see their profit margins maintained. But its very much an example of short-term thinking. Sony has burned through so much good will since the launch of the PS5 that eventually this will catch up with them.

The only positive that might come out of this is that finally, all of the damage done to the brand today will finally snap Sony out of their malaise. Surely they cant sink much lower (from a PR perspective)

Percentage wise a far bigger price rise than most other regions. Still likely to be significantly cheaper than a PC that runs Final Fantasy 16 to a equivalent level.

@Rob_230 this 100%. I totally believe that all this negativity can actually bring around a positive change and put Sony back as the innovative and great company they once were.
I find it funny that when the "for the players" slogan was first created, that's exactly what Sony were! How times change.

Great! I hope there is more pushback around the world to this greed.

A win for PlayStation fans and generally for the corporation would be Big Jimbo to get the sack.

Horizon Forbidden West bundle 2022/9/15
Gran Turismo 7 bundle 2022/10/20
both of ¥66,968

https://blog.ja.playstation.com/2022/08/25/20220825-ps5-2/

I won't be surprised if they revert the changes from the backlash similar to how Xbox changed their decision to increase the price of Xbox Live.

Can't say I blame them. Especially when Microsoft confirmed there are no plans to hike up their prices any time soon. They really should reconsider this move. It's not too late to reverse course but they need to do it ASAP if they want to change the narrative.

Whoever made that decision should be fired. Simple as that.

I mean, Sony can charge what they like. Gaming isn't a right.
Now, if these price hikes mean they lose business, it's their own fault.

Good! PlayStation have forsaken them for western games that I personally aren't interested anymore. I got into games because Japanese games felt better storywise.

Nintendo has been catering to them in better ways.

Good. The more complain, the better.

@pip_muzz jimbo gotta go ! i’ve called it plenty of times but my cries were silenced here, they had faith in Dim Ryan .

If you can just switch to PC, its not like the PS5 will have any true exclusive Game anyway. Xbox is very close to the PS5 in Japan every week now so not suprising that Sega and other Japan Devs are fine with giving them exclusives now

@Dudeman1 I doubt it then they'd be admitting that the price increase is unnecessary & they're just doing it because the shareholders are disappointed that the profit margins aren't as good as they were when everyone was in lockdown

@Shepherd_Tallon I think a distraction will b coming soon ,maybe a trailer for wolverine /spider man 2

@kyleforrester87 I don't speak Japanese what's it say

@kyleforrester87 no that language looks far too complicated for me to wrap my head around lol

It's a 10% increase lol, people are acting like Sony slapped an extra £100 on top. Currently demand easily outstrips supply so sales won't be affected by people claiming they're walking away.

@pip_muzz Ahh 4 the players was such a good era. Regardless of what people felt about Sony, it genuinely felt like they were in step with their consumer base. Oh to return to those days!

I'm with you in that i genuinely believe something will eventually shock Sony into going back to basics with their Comms - and the outpouring of anger today might be what does it. I think they will genuinely be taken aback by the reaction - which i dont think is about the price hike in isolation, but instead is a reaction to years of poor decisions

@Would_you_kindly Literally just said the price is affected by the difficult economic climate. People don't get it's absolutely because of the shareholders. Maybe the backlash will effect the share price and they'll realize this is just a short term issue and they should think long term. That said I don't think it's going to impact sales at all since everything sells out that they put out and the increase isn't even that much for most countries.

If Nintendo or Xbox did it I'd say its absolutely greed. The hardware in the Switch is so old they should be making a huge profit on every console even now and in Xbox's case Microsoft is literally the 4th most profitable country in the entire world. Sony isn't even in the top 100.

And how many gamers are that? do you have a number?

Sony's betrayal of the Japanese market is one of the saddest things to come out of the PS4's success. So much short term thinking to try and sustain numbers that were never sustainable in the first place. Couldn't just be happy selling 100+ Million consoles and billions of dollars in exclusive software

Given game prices, amongst other things, I feel like we're seeing a PS3 level of hubris from Sony.

I will not be going with them for the next generation

Yeah in this case I think the divorce is mutual, neither party is too fond of each other. The Switch is the go to place if you love Japanese.

PlayStation is now only guaranteed Final Fantasy and that's because they are paying out the ass, otherwise who knows. I still think if the backlash is severe and loud enough Sony will reconsider.

@IonMagi That's not even remotely true. Xbox Series doesn't even have 300k total consoles sold in Japan meanwhile Ps5 is over 1.8 million. They won literally two weeks because Sony had next to zero stock available. The week of the 13th Ps5 sold 20.9k and Xbox sold 4.3k consoles, yeah very close. Xbox has no exclusive games period so your argument makes no sense. They'd just go PC in that case.

It’s been brutal for Japan gamers, the supply has been even more constrained than in any other region, almost two years after launch there’s people who haven’t got the possibility to buy a PS5 and now they’ll have to pay scalper’s prices for it just because they couldn’t get it before, the same applies for all territories but it’s specially bad in Japan.

Sony probably about to buy square enix so Japanese gamers will how to buy a PlayStation anyway 😂.

I believe sony managed to solve supply issues somehow so they could get away with a price hike.

@Dudeman1 This week PS5 actually sold 15.7k and the Xbox almost 10k. So like I said, they are very close most of the weeks. Close enough for some JP Indie Devs to skip Playstation and release it on Xbox instead

https://www.gematsu.com/2022/08/famitsu-sales-8-15-22-8-21-22

@IonMagi And it's entirely because of stock. Ps5 has over 5 times as many total consoles sold so no they're not close most weeks. If they were close most weeks why is there such a massive disparity? Why do you even try to twist this narrative when we have literal fact to prove your biased nonsense wrong.

What JP devs are only releasing games solely on Xbox? They're releasing them on Xbox AND PC because MS is paying them tons of money to do so and most are because they're being paid to go on GP. There's not a single game solely on Xbox from a Japanese dev.

@IonMagi the ps5 almost at 2 million consoles sold in Japan compare to Xbox only 300k consoles sold. I know you hate PlayStation but come on 😂.

@pip_muzz It's sad how westernized Sony has become

@4kgk2 PS5 had a headstart but since Sony aint shipping any consoles to Japan and the PS5 is getting even more expensive now the sales are very close in most weeks

https://www.gematsu.com/2022/08/famitsu-sales-8-15-22-8-21-22

in other news bears p**p in the woods.

is anyone happy obv not, but as usual over reaction. doubtful will spend far more on pc.

@ionmagi 50-60% is close? be real. not to mention shortage.

I already have a PS5 so I’m not going to abandon the system but we can force change in other ways. Don’t buy games at launch (so they get less money). Buy games second hand (so they don’t get any money). I realise this will hurt innocent devs too but maybe when the devs speak out, Sony will actually listen.

@Sqush-Pare "It's a 10% increase lol"

From this article, about the price increase in Japan:

"The Blu-ray model, which cost ¥49,980 (~$366) at launch, will rise to ¥60,478 (~$448)"

The only lol here is your math skills.😂

@Dudeman1 Nah lol, the new Azure Striker for example launches on Xbox and Switch...and not Playstation for the first time in the series history. The Legend of Wright also was Xbox only at Launch and is from a Japanese Dev.

https://www.gematsu.com/2022/08/azure-striker-gunvolt-3-five-months-of-free-updates-announced-starting-with-version-1-1-0-update-on-august-25

@stvevan speak for yourself. I've already tossed my PS5 off the roof and bought a $2000 PC because of this price increase. If anything, this is an under-reaction.

@Would_you_kindly
I think like many it’s the PS exclusives that keep me at PS5. I think Sony know that and so far they have released a good view, but they need to keep it up more than ever in 2023.

@Dudeman1 Not sure if you can actually read but with "head up" I mean sales at the launch time lol. Since then Xbox has outsold PS5 multiple weeks btw. And if Sony even cared one bit about Japan anymore they would have improved the Stock Situation over there. So they deserve their fall from grace (:

It feels like we're back to the late PS2 early PS3 arrogant Sony. This whole experience will likely humble them back down to the early to mid PS4 era. That is, assuming that people don't complain and then go buy the product anyways, something that Nintendo fans seem to do all the time.

Getting more real you wanna look at cars prices and waiting times.
My car cost me £24k new 3 years ago.
Same model and specification today with an even less powerful engine and tiny electric motor doing almost nothing £31k and 6 month wait.
This price thing isn’t that bad overall.

@get2sammyb first of all, another hate article from you. Congrats. Secondly 3 or 4 Japanese people aren't happy so they speak for all Japanese people? Going by your headline.

@IonMagi Because MS paid for the The Legend of Wright timed exclusivity on PC and Xbox. It launched for Switch and Ps4 the exact same time, do you really think a JP dev would skip Switch when it's the console that sells the most games by far in Japan? Most weeks look like this: https://www.gematsu.com/2022/08/famitsu-sales-7-25-22-7-31-22, over 5x the sales.

You said head start and you're still wrong because Ps5 came out after Xbox in Japan. They've outsold Ps5 a total of two weeks, that's it. How can they increase stock there when they can't increase it anywhere? The US and Europe will always be priority because they sell far more standard consoles there and mobile dominates Japan. Keep digging that hole deeper though.

@ionmagi of course some weeks they sold more, due to stock issues.
overall ps is outselling, just read the numbers in your article

@Shepherd_Tallon A showcase in September with banger after banger would be nice.

Sony gave up on their home nation around 2017/2018 when they decided they were embarrassed by their output and didn’t want their games anymore. That or the PR would be bad due to various activist groups. Either way, such things as not giving them stock and switching their traditional accept/cancel buttons were more nails in the coffin.
It’s a shame. It’s only VR that keeps me with PlayStation now.

@Shepherd_Tallon Yeah, getting a glimpse at first party and what they do best could shift the conversation again. I somewhat liked the more quiet Sony this gen but they've drawn it out very long and pretty much anything they said or that was a talking point was negative stuff. Turn it around and show us what we love you for.

I think these big corporations eventually lose grasp of reality when it comes to consumers and what they want. It takes the consumers to show these companies through their wallets that their company has lost touch. Nintendo, Sega, Microsoft, and Sony have all been through it before in the past. Sony is going through it again. They’ll figure it out when consumers jump ship and go to their competitors. It’s what makes companies and competition better.

@rjejr actually it’s ¥60k including tax, the previous price was ¥55k. Sometimes it gets confusing in Japan as some stores show the pre-tax price, some with price included.
It was definitely ¥55k including tax on release.

It's only fair they give up on it. Sony gave up on japan a long time ago. Ps3 arc v2 is horrible. Worse than v1.

The internet reactions arent real. How many are bots or not ps gamers

The headline was hardly going to read 'Japanese gamers impressed with price hike' was it.

Is anyone else confused by Sony raising prices in Japan instead of the US? Wouldn’t it be cheaper for them to sell in Japan than it would be selling overseas?

Ok… but how much is just the graphics card for a comparable PC?

If I was making games I'd be looking at releasing on all platforms anyway, but especially right now, if I were a Japanese dev, I'd make sure the Switch and PS4 got my games.

Got mine already so meh, but next round might just buy a better PC. Times are changing.

POOR PEOPLE DESERVE TO PLAY VIDEO GAMES TOO

@RadicalThe_Tay I think the consoles are all made in China now so there’s still an element of transport involved.

Nobody is ever happy with price increases but only the equivalent of $366 the last two years? That's a hell of a discount! They must have been taking a huge loss on each console.

@PlayStationGamer3919 except the ps3 was a better console…….

ps5 is really underwhelming

@Victor_Meldrew Exactly. Steam deals aren't even any better than console deals now. Steam was great back in the late 00s early 2010s, but now the sales are nowhere near as good. You can get insane physical deals that far surpass digital PC sales. Then you have instances like Horizon that has never been lower than $25 on Steam, meanwhile it's been $10 on PS and given away on PS Plus for free. The same thing can even be said for non first party games like Persona Strikers.

@PlayStationGamer3919 what partially made playstation what it was , was it’s japanese roots . We need old sony back , the ps4 started amazing and then became the end of an era , i wonder why .

Wait Japan has been getting a steep discount all this time and they’re still getting a discount after the price increase, ***** Japan!

If their Japanese players are complaining you know it's serious. I wonder if they'll reverse course and issue an apology in the next few days. Like @IonMagi said in the previous article, Sony were the first to raise the base price of their games and now the first to raise the price of their console. It's really not a good look

I consider myself a Sony person, someone who buys most things Sony. But I never got a PS5. Actually I would have bought it, if It was available to buy before the xbox series x was. But I ended up with an xbox that I rarely use, coz of the lack of Japanese games. Games I bought for xbox so far are, Yakuza 7, Tales of Arise, Lost Judgement and now Soul Hackers 2. I have a switch and PS4. So don't really need a PS5. I'll get multiplatform games on the series x. Games not on xbox for switch , and games not on switch, I can get them on either PS4 or PC.

Jim ryan is really messing thing for PlayStation its crazy.just because i live in new york.that doesn't mean i dont feel the anger of the other people from Europe japan.canada etc.its crazy.word up son

So, I'm gonna be that person:

A few angry tweets after Sony announces a price hike is evidence of nothing except that some Japanese people on Twitter are angry. It's not indicative of any wider trends without further substantiation. Comments from random people on Twitter rarely represent broad sentiments among the populace.

In other words, there's no story here.

I know why they've done it because shipping theses consoles and making theses console has no doubt increased they're cost and probably for first time in console gaming history parts have increased in price rather than decreased. But you telling me they couldn't of just made this £30 another way? if you produce great games despite the £70 it's been seen that people will still buy them, all the controllers, monitors, headsets, psvr2 ect. Like don't divide you're user base over £30 software sales and external hardware will more than make up for it.

Daaang. You know its bad if even @naruball isn't buying it!

This is a huge marketing opportunity for MS in Japan, combined with Atlus on board. It's also a huge marketing opportunity for Valve with a mini PC half the price of PS5 that's portable. Sony seriously gifted their competitors with an opening that wouldn't have had without Sonys help. That's not careless, that's sabotage.

@Solomon18 they also deserve to eat, have electricity, and a roof over their head, but that hasn't stopped all of those necessities from increasing in price. Basically the world economy is screwed right now, nothing is safe.

@Ralizah I think I'm officially done with push square after this article. All @get2sammyb does is post negative articles about Sony and the only "proof" provided are some twitter posts.

@IonMagi you are just a troll. You post and post about how much of a garbage company Sony is and try and back it up with "research" but you don't even research it for yourself and often prove yourself wrong. THEN you proceed to double down on it making yourself look more foolish. Sometimes it's okay to take the L. Oftentimes it's more admirable.

In the end I have all 3 systems. I don't care about this. It's not the end of the world. In canada the same thing happened with the ps4 after I bought one. Price went up 50 bucks. The reason was because the Canadian dollar was doing absolutely garbage compared to the US dollar.

Things like this happen, it sucks... GET OVER IT!

@torne I mean, there's a lot of legitimate bad news to talk about with Sony, and I do think that this will anger a lot of Japanese gamers, but this article exists purely to generate discussion. You can find angry social media posts about almost any topic. There's no reason to think angry Japanese twitter posts are indicative of anything worth writing an article about.

The price hike sucks, but we already have an article about that.

@torne to be fair, journalism in general the last 5 or so years has been the equivalent of finding something that you think will generate clicks, write one or two paragraphs about it, and then embed a few tweets from literal nobodies supporting the article's position.

@GreatAuk @Ralizah fair points. I'm just tired of the constant stream of negativity and thinking that a few people on Twitter are "newsworthy".

There are already 3 articles on the price hike on this site alone. I'm over it...

Hold on, Japan were getting the blu ray console for $336 before this price increase? And even after the price increase its still cheaper than it was in the west before the price increase?

Wow, what place do they have to moan compared to the rest of the world

@IonMagi You are the OG Playstation hater here so its good news for you.

Im sorry but they still dont pay the European price before the raise?

Sony should reverse their decision and recover the costs they need another way, such as shutting down another one do their divisions that isn't making them money (or as much), like their mobile, TV, headphones or camera divisions.

@Solomon18 Im going to be rude here but if you are low on funds a PS5 will be last thing on your mind that increase will make no difference. I have been broke and that money would be a problem even before the hike better said not even a option.

@Ralizah well I agree angry tweets hardly mean anything. What does speak volumes about Japan, however, is Nintendo’s absolute dominance over there. Ergo the comments/tweets are kind of moot.

I thought they all publicly destroyed their PS5s for some other thing that they were triggered by?

@MidnightDragonDX I don't think there's any malice behind his articles, this sites main job is to generate clicks for revenue and he knows exactly what kind of articles bring in those clicks. Any articles about playstation vs xbox, or how playstation is doing something bad will always bring in people to comment, or to troll as seen abundantly above.

@Flaming_Kaiser for those in the UK and Europe so are in recession and cost of inflation going up and energy bills then yeah the cost of the ps5 going up is irrelevant as the majority of people won't afford a ps5 with all those price rises, even on necessities like food and clothes, the prices havs shot up.

The only ones who will be buying a ps5 any time soon are those that are with rich, hot a good job, live with their parents and have no responsibilies or those who get the console on finance options. So a £30 increase will mean nothing to those.

When the console finally has normal stock levels and can easily be found in shops and online with no issues of being out of stock, then the price will drop again, maybe even lower than its original price.

But, if sony are smart they would release a cheaper less powerful version like the series S or a ps5 slim which would cost less anyway, and do it ASAP

@MidnightDragonDX To be fair it’s not like Sony is making it hard find flaws in their approach lately…

I have one already and live in the US, so this doesn’t affect me, but I think I would still get one if I didn’t have one and they jacked up the price on me. Wouldn’t be happy, but would just suck it up and get it.

do people know that too much positivity can be just as obnoxious as too much negativity ??

@rjejr it's around 10% in most countries, I wasn't being exact. The biggest lol is actually watching so my of today's entitled generation getting beside themselves with the thought of having to pay a little extra for something. Great news though this won't affect sales in the slightest, and if it means we lose a bunch of entitled kids over to Xbox it's win/win.

@Shepherd_Tallon I feel the September 15th timing is suspicious given the rest of the price increases are effective immediately. Like something is happening around then that'll make Japanese players specifically accept the price increase.

Only things that come to mind there are Nintendo announces new hardware that causes backlash (e.g. if Switch's successor turned out to just be a home console rather than a hybrid) or Sony announces they're acquiring a major Japanese 3rd party like Square Enix. The latter seems a lot more likely.

I think it's atrocious Sony putting the price up on the ps5 I was going to see if I could get one but it would be a waste of time now and too costly for me to seriously consider buying a ps5 now.

@Sqush-Pare It's a 21% increase actually. An additional €77.

@Trebore you can just wait for a PS5 Slim when it comes if Sony plan to make it maybe that time inflation will ease and by that time PS5 will have a lot video games to offer you can also buy some of their first party like Horizon Forbidden West at cheaper price if you’re willing to wait that long at the end of the day Sony is not forcing us to buy their now expensive PS5 and it’s up to us consumers if we buy now or wait a few years for a discounted PS5.

@Octane In Japan yes.

The truth is, PS5 was rushed at least 3 years forward... no (ok 2) exclusive games, heavily unfinished firmware, unsecured production... everything is wrong about this machine.

Whilst there is the price comment about PC, initially yes. But as time goes on, it's a much better investment.

Big question will be when there's no more reasons about putting up prices, I.e. Russia/Ukraine ends, will the prices go down?

@nomither6 I miss Shawn Layden so much and I wish Playstation would release Shuhei from PR jail.

I am buying a ps5 tomorrow brand new still boxed and sealed as I deserve to treat myself now my insurance as paid up I may even buy a Xbox series X just to keep the ps5 company. Life is grand out of the Twilight Zone

@Sqush-Pare "it's around 10% in most countries"

That's true, except in the US where's it's zero, and Japan where it's closer to 20%. And this article is titled: "Japanese Gamers Aren't Impressed with PS5's Price Hike".

Also funny that you went on to say "people are acting like Sony slapped an extra £100 on top". Well they didn't slap an extra 100, they slapped an extra 10,000 in Japan, which going from 50,000 to 60,000 would pretty much be the equivalent of them adding an extra 100 in the US or UK.

So I'm ok w/ Japanese gamers being upset w/ their near 20% price hike when the rest of the world got 10% and the US got zero.

@MB81 Thanks, your numbers do look better, as a quick Google search found. I just gotta stop relying on PS for facts.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/08/26/business/tech/sony-ps5-price-hike/

@Shepherd_Tallon Thats 130 less then Europe if that are the prices then its not strange Sony says F it its no use.

The PS5 is already struggling with sales in Japan, pushing for a price hike will make it even difficult for consumers to not only find the darn thing but purchasing it as well. Hopefully this doesn't come back to bite Sony in the rear.

@nomither6 Replace him with Reggie. Of cause he is a businessman, too. And when the pressure from Nippon for better financial numbers would be high, he would also rise prices. But I also had the impression that he always had the customers‘ fun with gaming in his mind. And this is what Jim lacks in my opinion, that he sees his products as a high-price product for enthusiasts (and no video-game beginners), pretty much the opposite of what Nintendo did with Wii and Switch. This SIE of today is a cold, unlovely corporation.

@RadicalThe_Tay No, SIE is an American company, so it is likely that Sony gives SIE financial goals in USD. And when the USD gets stronger compared to other currencies, then SIE must rise prices abroad to hit the mark. SIE is crucial for Sony, for a long period of time SIE kept Sony alive.

The distraction that everyone is talking about is that they'll be announcing the next gen PSP. Don't know if this year or next, but it's already in the works at AMD.

@Shepherd_Tallon
They should add 12 months of ps plus. that way it's win-win. they get the 50 euros for components anyway and there is a chance that people will renew ps plus. And for some people who don't have it wide, that eases the pain a bit. If I were Jim I would. But I don't think Jim Ryan is doing this all on his own. Some people seem to think so.

@Sqush-Pare "10%" in japan its about 20.

@Sqush-Pare sorry but increasing prices of a 2 year old console after its release means that people will think twice about getting a ps5. Sales will stagger even more (slow).

Sony ***** the bed and apparently simpletons will defend moves like this one...... you.

The announcement of PlayStation has further fueled the anger, with Japanese users switching to xbox and PC more than ever.

@Gh05tm4ch1n3 It's not going to affect sales in any way, the demand for PS5 will still outstrip supply for some time yet.

@Sqush-Pare well you're obviously living in cloud cuckoos land. Sony care about lining there pockets. Anything that affects that in any way is either removed, deleted, changed. Sony need to get there head out of the sand and realise this is only going to push customers away, to the competition. There are people who have still got preorders of ps5s in the pipeline and im sure fhey are not going to want to pay another 30 to 50 on top of what they initially paid. I can really see there back pedalling. But really if your supportive on sonys decisions i feel sorry for you.

Take a look around kid, prices are going up everywhere. I guarantee the subscription price for Gamepass will rise next year too and then we'll have some fresh 'outrage' for people to moan about.

Can't even ***** find one in my area. I love on the storefront it would say scan the qr code for a chance to purchase a PS5 XD

Offer more free PSone classics to the deluxe subscription... namely Dino Crisis 1 & 2.