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It’s a bit of an odd time to find yourself in the console market. Sony is raising prices for the PlayStation 5 across a slew of regions, citing “challenging economic conditions” and ongoing delivery issues. The price increase mainly affects Europe, the UK, Japan, China, Australia, Mexico and Canada.
Nothing in the US, but those regions cover much of the rest of the world.
Before Sony, Meta announced a price increase for its Meta Quest 2 VR headsets, raising prices for the two-year-old headset by $100. The price increase was a bit historic; normally prices go down over time, not up.
So if Sony pushes a price hike on one of the three major consoles, what’s going to happen to the other two? Fortunately, Nintendo is pretty clear about the future. Nintendo boss Shuntaro Furukawa made it very clear during a shareholder meeting.
“While we cannot comment on pricing strategies, we currently have no plans to change the price of our hardware due to inflation or higher purchase costs in each country,” explains Furukawa. “We will determine our future pricing strategies through careful and ongoing deliberations.”
More recently, Nintendo confirmed the sentiment to Eurogamer after Sony’s announcement.
It’s a bit of a relief that the Switch isn’t going to cost more all of a sudden, but it makes sense to me. The switch is everywhere. It has done huge numbers. It may not be worth the blow to public perception to raise the price when everyone already has one.
At least that’s my personal reading on things.
Sony raises prices. Not Nintendo. What does Microsoft do?
Microsoft is a bit darker. The Microsoft statement actually happened first. Although the way it reads leaves the door open for a price change in the near future. Microsoft let Windows Central know it had no immediate plans for a price hike. But it also warned that it was constantly evaluating its company.
It’s definitely a more cautious response to Sony’s move, and it doesn’t just leave the door open for price hikes. It also leaves the door open for price drops.
If Microsoft followed Sony’s price hike with a price drop, it could be devastating for the PlayStation 5 for the rest of the generation. After all, a huge price difference helped boost the Xbox 360 well beyond the PlayStation 3.
Besides, stuff is way too expensive now anyway. I’m not sure work more hours at a second (or in my case third) job, the best bet is to pay for the current PlayStation console.
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