When a few years have passed after a console’s launch, they are usually reduced in price. Sony now chooses to do the opposite and instead raises the price, and on the Playstation blog they justify why and explain that “this price increase is a necessity given the current global economic environment and its impact on SIE’s business”.

The price increase is €50 and the new MSRP is now €449.99 for the Digital Edition and €549.99 for the standard version with Blu-ray reader. The price increase basically applies to the whole world, except the US, which may seem strange given that it is the largest market. But the exception is probably due to what Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said during the latest quarterly report, namely that the Xbox Series S/X has “been the market leader in North America for three quarters in a row among next-gen consoles”. Raising the price in the most important market while the worst competitor regularly sells more would simply have been a questionable decision.

Piers Harding-Rolls, Ampere’s games research director, believes (via VGC) that this will have “minimal impact on sales” of the Playstation 5, but he doesn’t think Microsoft will follow Sony’s decision:

“At this stage there is no indication that Microsoft will be increasing its prices for the Xbox Series console. Undoubtedly, Microsoft will take advantage of Sony’s increase to push its ‘value’ message, especially around the Xbox Series S, Game Pass and its All Access offer as we enter the holiday shopping season. As such, this move hands some advantage to Microsoft.”

Nintendo has already said they won’t raise prices.

Source: Gamereactor