Sony Group Corp. is raising the price of its PlayStation 5 in Japan by 19 percent to nearly ¥80,000 ($550), nearly four years after the console’s launch.
The surprise move comes even as PS5 sales have slowed and Sony is expected to refresh its lineup with a more powerful, mid-cycle revamp of the console in the coming months. Prices of accessories like the DualSense wireless controller and Pulse wireless headset will also increase in Japan starting on September 2.
“This decision takes into account the business impact of the challenging external circumstances, including recent global economic fluctuations,” the company said on its PlayStation blog on Tuesday.
The price hikes come after Sony earlier this month raised the suggested retail prices of its TVs, headphones and cameras. Microsoft Corp. also announced a price hike for its Xbox consoles in Japan earlier this month, raising the price of its Xbox Series X by 12% to nearly ¥67,000.
Tokyo-based Sony could reach a new high in games division profit in the fiscal year through March, according to analysts Masahiro Wakasugi and Takumi Okano of Bloomberg Intelligence. They see the company’s strong stable of first-party titles and a potential price hike on PlayStation Network Services — required for online multiplayer play — as ways to boost profitability, in addition to tight cost controls.
