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- The PlayStation 5 is getting more expensive in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and EU
- The base console will now cost Aussies AU$830
- Sony blames inflation and falling currency rates for the decision
If you’re even passingly interested in video games you’ve probably seen a lot of people talking about how expensive the upcoming Switch 2 is going to be. Well, it’s not just Nintendo’s next console that’s getting expensive, as Sony revealed this week that the PS5 is getting a hefty price increase in “select markets”.
In Australia and New Zealand, as well as the United Kingdom and Mainland Europe, Sony said both versions of the base PS5 will see prices jump – though the more expensive Pro console will not change. Here’s what the PS5 line-up looks like effective immediately.
| Previous Price | New Price | |
| PS5 (no disc drive) | AU$600 | AU$750 |
| PS5 (base) | AU$750 | AU$830 |
| PS5 Pro | AU$1,199 | no change |
Add to this the fact that the platform’s online subscription, PlayStation Plus, has also recently been hit with a price increase, with a 12-month membership set to jump from AU$95.95 a year to AU$102.95 a year on 16 April, and you have the recipe for a pretty pissed off fanbase.
It’s hard not to point the finger and cry foul at this – business are often quick to raise prices when things feel unstable and then slow to drop them back down – but it’s also worth remembering that the global market is actually in a pretty shit spot right now.
In a blog post, Sony Interactive Entertainment’s VP of Global Marketing Isabelle Tomatis said the price increases were due to the “backdrop of a challenging economic environment, including high inflation and fluctuating exchange rates”.
In order words, because of US President Trump’s tariffs sending markets into disarray, many other countries are now paying more for goods from Japan due to a destabilisation of currency rates. Wonderful.
Perspective is important, and video games as a hobby getting more expensive isn’t something I’m going to be hitting the streets to protest – there are far more important causes that deserve that kind of treatment – but it is worth noting that this is the first generation in recent memory where consoles were cheaper at launch than later in the generation.
Usually, consoles launch at their most expensive and, through an ‘economy of scale’, are able to be manufactured more cost effectively over time. That tends to lead to console refreshes, like the PS4 Slim, which pack the same processing power into a more compact chassis for a cheaper price (Yes, a PS5 Slim was launched, but it wasn’t significantly cheaper than the ‘fat’ version).
That simply hasn’t happened in recent years, and the PS5’s current pricing issues are a direct result of the fact that – no – manufacturing them isn’t getting any cheaper, combined with a very difficult trading environment.
So is it fair to say PlayStation is nickel-and-diming its customers here? Probably not, no.
Do I wish PlayStation had waited a bit longer for the market to stabilise before hitting the emergency button and hitting its fans in the wallet? Yes.
And finally, do I think it is fair to be frustrated by price increases, and buy fewer goods as a result? Absolutely.
