Whether you’re deeply into politics or prefer to avoid discussing it at all costs, there are just some days where it cannot be avoided. Case in point, Sony is considering increasing the cost of the PS5 yet again to combat the huge tariff increases imposed by the US across the globe.
Speaking at the latest Sony financial call, it was confirmed that the company is expecting to see a $680 million cost increase due to the tariffs. Sony CFO Lin Tao stated that the company is considering “passing on” those costs to consumers.
You may recall that Sony has already done this to some degree, implementing a price increase just a few weeks ago that impacted the UK, Australia, Europe, and New Zealand. At the time, it was speculated that Sony was doing this to combat the tariffs, essentially spreading out the damage across multiple other regions.
This has been a rather odd generation in that both the Xbox and the PlayStation have become more expensive to purchase since their release, instead of cheaper. Xbox also opted to raise prices again, and will be charging more for first-party games going forward.
Sony CEO Hiroki Totoki also tackled the tariff topic, saying that Sony is considering moving more PS5 production to the US. He said that the machine “can be produced locally” and would be an “efficient strategy” to combat the tariffs. Of course, setting up production takes time, so it’s unclear whether Sony would still raise the cost of the console in the meantime.
For now, the PS5 continues to sell well, according to Sony’s data. It’s now up to 77.7 million units sold, just a few percent behind what the PS4 sold in the same time frame. Of course, this data doesn’t reflect the recent price hike, or potential future price increases as well. Nor does it take into account that the PS5 is far more expensive than the PS4.