When one hears the term “dynamic pricing”, the first thought would probably be different prices in different markets. Especially in the videogames industry, the reason for this is usually due to currency differences in each. But a report claims that Sony may be testing dynamic pricing, down to the individual, on its PlayStation Store.
The first instance of this was first noticed in November of last year. At the time, one player posted on Reddit the price disparity of Red Dead Redemption 2 between his account and his wife’s. Crucially, these are prices for two customers in the same region, displaying the same currency.
More recently, PSprices reports that Sony has been testing such dynamic pricing on the PlayStation Store for these past months. Not to the point of the 25% difference in the original example on Reddit, price differences still range between 5.3% and 17.6%. It’s not just their listed price either, as the report highlights a recent sale where even discounts are dynamically adjusted.
A/B Testing Or Price Discrimination?
And it’s an expanding test too. The initial stages affect 17 games across 42 regions, and uses the IPT_OPR_TESTING identifier. At some point, the new IPT_PILOT was introduced, affecting 139 games in 68 regions. Both are noted to be running concurrently. Examples of affected regions include Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America and Africa. Only the US and Japan are singled out as not being affected, “likely due to stricter regulation and higher market sensitivity”.
Overall, the dynamic pricing is described as an A/B test on price elasticity of demand. Which may indeed be the case for Sony and PlayStation. But for the buyer, especially if they’re aware that someone is paying less for the same game in the same market, it’s difficult to see this as anything beyond price discrimination. At any rate, we’ve reached out to the company for comment, and will let you know if we hear back.
(Source: PSprices)
