Sony has announced an increase in the price of its PlayStation hardware, pushing the cost of the PlayStation 5 up by £90 in the United Kingdom (UK) and $100 in the United States (US), citing sustained global economic pressures.
The changes, which take effect from 2 April, will affect the standard PlayStation 5, the PS5 Digital Edition, the PS5 Pro and the PlayStation Portal handheld device across multiple markets.
In the UK, the recommended retail price of the PS5 will rise to £569.99, representing a 19 per cent increase.
The Digital Edition will cost £519.99, up 21 per cent, while the PS5 Pro will climb to £789.99, a 13 per cent rise, with PlayStation Portal increasing by £20 to £219.99.
In a statement, Sony said the price revisions were “a necessary step” to allow the company to continue delivering “innovative, high-quality gaming experiences” despite what it described as continued pressures in the global economic landscape.
The move comes less than a year after Sony raised the price of the disc-free PS5 Digital Edition by £40, at the time blaming challenging market conditions.
In the United States, the PS5 will now retail at $649.99, while European prices will rise to €649.99 from the same date.
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Industry analysts say the decision reflects wider pressures on console manufacturing. Piers Harding-Rolls, an analyst at Ampere Analysis, said there was “some inevitability” to the latest increase.
He attributed the move to rising costs for key components such as memory and storage, which are in heavy demand as global investment accelerates in data centres powering artificial intelligence.
“With no sign of prices easing, largely due to demand for AI infrastructure, Sony will have made the move to protect its already slim hardware margins,” Harding-Rolls said, adding that rivals including Microsoft and Nintendo could follow with similar increases.
The pressure is being felt across the gaming sector, including Valve, which operates the PC games platform Steam.
Valve previously said rising component costs forced it to rethink pricing and timing for new hardware.
Harding-Rolls also warned that further inflation linked to geopolitical tensions in the Middle East could worsen the situation, compounding component price rises and placing console makers in an increasingly difficult position.
The announcement has triggered a backlash from some gamers, with social media users criticising the cost of a console now more than five years into its lifecycle and arguing prices should be falling rather than rising.