Sony raises PlayStation 5 prices in U.S. as tariffs start to hit

Sony raises PlayStation 5 prices in U.S. as tariffs start to hit


The PlayStation DualSense controller and PlayStation 5 console.

Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Images

PlayStation 5 game consoles will cost $50 more in the U.S. starting this week, Sony announced on Wednesday.

The price for an entry-level PlayStation 5 Digital Edition will increase from $450 to $500, and a PlayStation 5 with a disc drive is going up to $550 from $500. Sony’s high-end PlayStation 5 Pro will cost $750, up from $700. The PlayStation 5 was first released in 2020.

President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff plan announced in April went into effect earlier this month on most countries. The U.S. currently has a 30% tariff on imports from China, and higher tariffs on goods from the world’s second-largest economy are currently “paused,” according to the administration. Sony’s home country of Japan was hit with a 15% tariff.

While Sony didn’t attribute the increase to Trump’s tariffs, consumer companies have been warning for months that higher prices are on the way.

“Similar to many global businesses, we continue to navigate a challenging economic environment,” Sony said in its blog post.

The company said that retail prices for console accessories such as controllers haven’t changed.

Earlier this month, Sony officials said the company was working on supply chain diversification to combat U.S. tariffs, and said that the console hardware it sells in the U.S. is produced outside of China.

“It is difficult to speak to our hardware pricing strategy as that has implications for our future competitive strategy,” ” Sony officials said, according to a translated transcript of a call with financial analysts posted on its website. “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.”

In May, Microsoft raised the price of its Xbox video game consoles. Nintendo delayed pre-orders of its Switch 2 by a few weeks in April, attributing the delay to tariffs. Although Nintendo did not raise the price of its new consoles, it hiked the price of the original Switch earlier this month.

WATCH: Nintendo President on the new Switch 2, tariffs and what’s next for the company

Nintendo President on the new Switch 2, tariffs and what's next for the company



Source

Alphabet’s market cap surpasses Apple’s for first time since 2019
Technology

Alphabet’s market cap surpasses Apple’s for first time since 2019

Google CEO Sundar Pichai gives a thumbs up as he arrives to attend the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit at the Grand Palais in Paris, Feb. 11, 2025. Benoit Tessier | Reuters Google parent company Alphabet saw its market capitalization surpass Apple’s for the first time since 2019. Alphabet’s market cap closed at $3.88 trillion on Wednesday. […]

Read More
Google, Character.AI to settle suits involving minor suicides and AI chatbots
Technology

Google, Character.AI to settle suits involving minor suicides and AI chatbots

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. Klaudia Radecka | Nurphoto | Getty Images Google and Character.AI will settle with families who sued the companies over harm to minors, including suicides, allegedly caused by artificial intelligence chatbots. According to court documents filed this week, the families and companies have agreed to work out settlement terms. In one case, […]

Read More
Anthropic signs term sheet for  billion funding round at 0 billion valuation
Technology

Anthropic signs term sheet for $10 billion funding round at $350 billion valuation

Anthropic has signed a term sheet for a $10 billion funding round at a $350 billion valuation, CNBC confirmed on Wednesday. Coatue and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC are leading the financing, according to a source familiar who asked not to be named because the discussions are confidential. A representative for Anthropic declined to comment. […]

Read More