Sony just confirmed that, due tomorrow (August 21), the PlayStation 5 price will see a US$ 50 increase across all versions. The Japanese gaming behemoth did not lay blame directly on the current tariff policy from the United States, but did imply the price hike to be due to “navigating a challenging economic environment.”
According to the PlayStation Blog, the entry-level PlayStation 5 Digital Edition, which used to cost $450, will now go for $500, while the disc drive-equipped version PlayStation 5 will now have a new, $550 price tag.
Meanwhile, the high end PlayStation 5 Pro model, released less than a year ago, will now punch your wallet with a $750 damage stat.
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“Similar to many global businesses, we continue to navigate a challenging economic environment. As a result, we’ve made the difficult decision to increase the recommended retail price for PlayStation 5 consoles in the U.S. starting on August 21.”
Sony
What does “tariffs” got to do with PlayStation 5 price hike
According to Sony’s own financial report, which details the company’s first quarter earnings for 2025’s fiscal year, it was “working on supply chain diversification to combat U.S. tariffs”, stating that the console hardware it sells in the United States are produced outside of China.
It is worth noting that, alongside Brazil and Russia, China is one of the countries on a current trade war of sorts with the US, being hit with some of the highest tariff percentage over several goods…including computer chips.
“It is difficult to speak to our hardware pricing strategy as that has implications for our future competitive strategy,” Sony officials have stated on the report. “But we intend to take a flexible approach to such decision-making by monitoring consumer price sensitivity as we think about total full-year segment profits, lifetime value, manufacturing, units sold in, and our content sales potential.”
Meanwhile, Sony already states that the pricing policy for accessories hasn’t changed for the time being.
At any rate, them’s the breaks: you can always check out our deals page or the occasional discount sale on several digital storefronts to save some munnies, though…
