Sony Group Corp. announced that it was raising the price of its PlayStation 5 (PS5) game console in selected markets worldwide as the Japanese entertainment giant coped with global economic challenges.
Sony said it was hiking PS5 prices in the UK, Europe, Japan, China, Australia, Mexico, and Canada. Prices of the console are climbing around 10% in Europe and Japan, while UK prices will rise about 6%.
Prices in the US, where the Tokyo-based company is engaged in strong competition with Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox, will remain unchanged. Xbox is also making an aggressive approach to expanding its subscription service.
The price hikes are effective immediately, although Japan’s is set to be implemented on September 15.
Coping with Global Economic Challenges
Sony’s price increases came as it faced higher inflation and interest rates that weighed on its games business and many other industries.
The company’s gaming segment has been hindered by supply chain issues that led to a significant lack of hardware. Sony stated that its primary goal is to increase the PS5 output by the end of this year’s shopping season.
According to the company, raising prices is necessary, seeing the current state of the global economy and its impact on Sony Interactive Entertainment’s (SIE) business. Still, SIE President and Chief Executive Jim Ryan said their main priority remains the same: to make the supply situation of the PS5 better.
Once Sony hits its sales target of 11.5 million units for the year ended March, the company expects to sell 18 million units of the popular PS5 in the current financial year.
While the price hikes occurred in many parts of the world, they were relatively small and involved markets feeling the most impact with additional curb from a stronger greenback.
With Sony raising prices across markets, analyst Piers Harding-Rolls said tech giant Microsoft would take advantage of such a move to uphold its value message.
