Sony has implemented a price adjustment for its PlayStation 5 consoles globally, raising the standard model’s price by $100 in the United States to $649.99 effective April 2. The PS5 Digital Edition is now priced at $599.99, while the premium PS5 Pro will be available for $899.99. Additionally, the PlayStation Portal remote player’s price has increased to $249.99 from $199.99. Similar price revisions are being introduced in Europe, the United Kingdom, and Japan.
The company stated that the decision was made after careful consideration of escalating costs in worldwide supply chains. This adjustment marks the second price increase within a year, following a roughly $50 raise in the US last August. The surge in memory chip prices is attributed to manufacturers prioritizing data centers for artificial intelligence applications, resulting in a limited supply of chips for consumer electronics such as gaming consoles.
The PS5 has been on the market for approximately six years, and the heightened pricing aligns with the video game industry encountering a slowdown. Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite, mentioned sluggish console sales as a contributing factor to the recent reduction of 1,000 jobs. Microsoft had also raised Xbox prices last year to account for market dynamics.