After nearly two years since it was launched, the PlayStation 5 is still not the easiest thing to get ahold of. It’s not exactly the most affordable piece of tech either, and to make things worse, its price looks set to get even higher.
In a PlayStation Blog post, Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced that it is increasing the price of the PlayStation 5 in select markets around the globe. Some countries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa (EMEA), Latin America (LATAM), Canada and Asia-Pacific (APAC), the last of which we are a part of, will be affected. This is due to the “high global inflation rates, as well as adverse currency trends”.
Effective Immediately, the new price for the standard PS5 is now RM2499, while the Digital Edition is now priced at RM2069. This is a flat RM200 increase over the original prices. SIE has listed the other affected countries within Southeast Asia, where the price changes also take effect immediately:
- Singapore
- PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – SG$799
- PS5 Digital Edition – SG$669
- Indonesia
- PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – IDR 9,699,000
- PS5 Digital Edition – IDR 8,199,000
- Thailand
- PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – THB 18,690
- PS5 Digital Edition – THB 15,690
- Philippines
- PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – PHP 30,790
- Vietnam
- PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – VND 15,990,000
According to industry analyst Daniel Ahmad, inflation and currency fluctuations have impacted the cost of manufacturing and distribution. Though nothing is expected to change in the short term since while component availability may be improving, it’s still quite uncommon to see a PlayStation 5 available at retail prices. He also notes that the Digital Edition of the PS5 has always been sold at a loss, while the disk edition is sold at a profit.
Sony raised the prices of some electronics earlier this year and most notably Meta raised the price of its Quest 2 headset by $100 this month
PS5 Digital Edition has always been sold at a loss. Standard Edition was being sold at a profit, on a per unit basis, earlier this year
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) August 25, 2022
The US is the only market that we can say for sure won’t see their PS5 prices going up, at least according to the PlayStation Blog post. On that note, Daniel Ahmad also says that Xbox consoles are also unlikely to see price hikes, since most of the Microsoft console sales are in its home country.
(Source: PlayStation)
