Sony has announced that they will be raising the prices for their PlayStation 5, PlayStation 5 Pro, and PlayStation Portal Hardware, blaming “continued pressures in the global economic landscape.”
These Price Raises, set to come into effect on April 2, 2026, were discussed by Isabelle Tomatis, Vice President of Global Marketing for Sony Interactive Entertainment, via a PlayStation Blog post. She stated:
With continued pressures in the global economic landscape, we’ve made the decision to increase the prices of PS5, PS5 Pro, and PlayStation Portal remote player globally. We know that price changes impact our community, and after careful evaluation, we found this was a necessary step to ensure we can continue delivering innovative, high-quality gaming experiences to players worldwide.
These price increases will affect the global supply change with multiple regions seeing an increase in price for the hardware. These price changes, starting on April 2, 2026, will reflect the following:
PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Pro Price Raises:
U.S.
- PS5 – $649.99
- PS5 Digital Edition – $599.99
- PS5 Pro – $899.99
U.K.
- PS5 – £569.99
- PS5 Digital Edition – £519.99
- PS5 Pro – £789.99
Europe
- PS5 – €649.99
- PS5 Digital Edition – €599.99
- PS5 Pro – €899.99
Japan
- PS5 – ¥97,980
- PS5 Digital Edition – ¥89,980
- PS5 Pro – ¥137,980
PlayStation Portal Price Raises:
- U.S. – $249.99
- U.K. – £219.99
- Europe – €249.99
- Japan – ¥39,980
*For all other territories, please check with your local retailer or direct.playstation.com, where it is available
Sony had previously increased the price of their hardware back in August of last year, with their PlayStation 5 family seeing a $50 increase in price. This time around, gamers are being hit with much higher price points, with the Standard PS5 with a disk drive, along with the digital version, has increased by $100 over that. The PS5 Pro, however, has seen a much bigger increase and is now $150 over its price point in August. The PlayStation Portal, which managed to weather previous price raises, wasn’t so lucky this time, seeing a $50 increase.
Early reactions to this news are an obvious mix of negative emotions, but very few gamers are actually shocked by this turn of events. These are current concerns that gaming is becoming too expensive, with next month possibly becoming the tipping point between becoming and is.
It’s hard to say all the elements that are affecting the global market; however, these price increases come amid a turbulent period brought about by U.S. tariffs imposed by current President Donald J. Trump. This isn’t helped by the newest war in Iran, along with the ongoing war in Ukraine. Along with this, RAM costs have begun to skyrocket amid growing AI demand, which has created a memory shortage.
Sony has not been alone in price raises, with both Nintendo and Microsoft following a similar suit throughout last year. Nintendo, which released the Nintendo Switch 2 in July of last year, has only increased the price of its Nintendo Switch family, holding back on increasing the price of its new hardware, though it has been stated that they are cutting back on manufacturing, given the platform’s failure to meet sales expectations during the holiday of last year. Analysts have suggested it is only a matter of time before we see an increase in the Nintendo Switch 2’s price point as well.
What’s worse is that all of this has come in the build-up to Grand Theft Auto VI releasing at the end of this year (provided it doesn’t see another delay). While the massively popular title has been expected to drive sales of the newest gen of consoles, since it will release on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series with a PC Port coming later, it remains to be seen if console pricing will affect sales going into that release.
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