Apart from Europe, Sony has also decided to hike the price of its gaming consoles in other parts of the world including — Japan, China, Australia, Mexico and Canada — however, the US and India prices will remain the same. The move has been widely criticised, especially while many nations are facing increased economic hardship.
An earlier report stated that Sony’s biggest gaming rival Microsoft has recently replied to Sony’s decision by stating, “We are constantly evaluating our business to offer our fans great gaming options.” Moreover, the tech giant has also reiterated the price points of Xbox Series X and S to prove its affordability.
According to a new report by Eurogamer, Nintendo has also joined Microsoft to reply to Sony’s price hike announcement. The report states that the Switch-maker has confirmed that it had “no plans to increase the trade price of its hardware.”
What Nintendo said about its pricing strategy
At the company’s June AGM, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa said: “While we cannot comment on pricing strategies, we currently do not have any plans to change the price of our hardware due to inflation or increased procurement costs in each country. We will determine our future pricing strategies through careful and continued deliberations,” the report notes.
Why Sony has increased the price of PS5 consoles
The report mentions that PlayStation boss Jim Ryan has referred to the company’s move as a “difficult decision”. Ryan has blamed “high global inflation rates, as well as adverse currency trends,” that are impacting consumers and are creating pressure for several industries.
As per the report, an analyst has also explained that Sony’s decision was due to foreign exchange costs. He noted that Sony’s decision to not change the US prices explains how this is mainly “a forex situation versus costs in dollars and not inflation.”
Another industry analyst has also suggested that the company’s decision might be an “unpopular” one, but these changes are likely to affect the “pent-up demand or Sony’s bottom line” the report adds.
