Sony has announced that it is raising prices on all versions of the PlayStation 5 in America. The increased prices go into effect on August 21, giving folks little time to plan ahead of the price hike. Folks now have less than 24 hours to try and buy a PS5 or PS5 Pro before Sony increases the price.
All new PS5 consoles will now cost $50 more in the United States. Here are the updated prices:
- PlayStation 5 – $549.99
- PlayStation 5 Digital Edition – $499.99
- PlayStation 5 Pro – $749.99
“Similar to many global businesses, we continue to navigate a challenging economic environment,” said Sony in a very short blog post announcing the news. “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 confirmed in the blog post that it doesn’t plan to increase the price of PS5 accessories at this time, and the company also has “no other price changes to announce for additional markets.”
When the PlayStation 5 launched in November 2020, it came in two flavors: A $500 console with a disc drive and a $400 digital-only console. In the five years since then, Sony, as well as other console makers, have raised prices on their gaming machines due to a few different factors, including President Donald Trump’s tariffs and chip shortages. In April, Sony raised the price of a new PS5 in multiple countries. In May, Xbox also raised prices on its consoles, including the Xbox Series S, which jumped from $300 to $380. And just earlier this month, Nintendo raised prices on old Switch consoles and accessories.
In May, shortly before the launch of the Switch 2, Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser couldn’t promise that the console’s $450 price wouldn’t increase in the future, and referenced President Trump’s tariffs as a reason for the pricing uncertainty.
“Obviously, it’s still a very fluid situation, and it’s difficult to determine what may be happening in the upcoming months or weeks,” said Bowser. “But our commitment is to find ways within existing market conditions or changing market conditions to make our products, including Nintendo Switch 2 hardware, as obtainable as we possibly can.”
Once again, if you can afford it of course, the best course of action in 2025 is to buy consoles as soon as you can, as it’s very likely the prices will go up, not down, in the future. This is the opposite of how things usually work in video games, with consoles typically getting price drops over time. Those days are, for the time being, a distant memory.
