The Japanese group Sony announced Thursday an increase in the selling prices of its PlayStation 5 consoles in most of its markets with the exception of the United States, citing high inflation and unfavorable exchange rate effects.
The prices of the PS5 in Europe increase by 10% to 549.99 euros for the console with disc drive and by 12.5% to 449.99 euros for its digital version, according to a statement published on the official PlayStation blog.
Its prices are also increasing “with immediate effect” in the United Kingdom, China, Australia, Mexico and Canada, while they will only be raised in Japan from September 15.
Asia-Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa are also concerned.
“We are seeing high levels of inflation, as well as negative currency effects, affecting consumers and putting many industrial sectors under pressure,” said Jim Ryan, head of Sony Interactive Entertainment, the gaming entity, in the press release. group video.
“Because of these harsh economic conditions, we have made the difficult decision to increase the recommended retail prices for the PS5” in various countries, added Mr. Ryan, assuring that it was “a necessity”.
The reason why Sony spared the United States has not been specified, even though inflation is very high in the world’s largest economy.
Mr. Ryan also recalled that Sony’s priority remained the improvement of the production of its PS5 consoles, which suffers from the persistent disruption of its supply chains, which makes these products often difficult to access for consumers.