Sony is planning to raise the prices of the PlayStation 5 due to the shortage of memory chips
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Sony Group is raising global prices for its PlayStation 5 console, including a $100 increase in the US, marking its second hike in less than a year as the Japanese company grapples with rising costs for key components such as memory chips.
The tech industry’s race to build artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure has pressured chipmakers to favor high-end data center chips, tightening supply for consumer devices. .
The revised US prices, effective April 2, will put the standard PS5 at $649.99, up from $549.99. The Digital Edition will now cost $599.99 while the PS5 Pro will cost $899.99.
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Sony is raising the price of its PS5 console by $100 in the US effective this week, citing a shortage of memory chips. (Jim Vondruska/Reuters)
Prices for the PlayStation Portal remote player will also increase to $249.99 from $199.99.
Similar increases will take place across Europe and Japan, following what the company described as a “careful assessment” of rising cost pressures on global supply chains.
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Sony last increased the price of its PS5 console by $50 last year. (Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Analysts said that the increase in the price of the console is likely to reduce the growth of the video game market this year.
“Fortnite” maker Epic Games also cited sluggish console sales among the reasons for the 1,000 job cuts it announced earlier this week.
GAMESTOP SHUTTERING 30 NEW YORK LOCATION
| A ticker | Security | Finally | Change | change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SONY | Company SONY GROUP CORP. | 19.92 | +0.02 |
+0.10% |
| MSFT | MICROSOFT CORP. | 358.96 | +2.19 |
+0.61% |
In the key holiday quarter of October-December, Sony’s PlayStation 5 sales fell 16% from a year earlier to 8 million units. The console has been on the market for almost six years.
Sony last raised PS5 prices by around $50 in the US in August of last year. Microsoft has also increased the prices of its console, Xbox, in 2025.
The growing demand for AI chips has encouraged Elon Musk to announce plans for two of his companies, Tesla and SpaceX, to collaborate on an advanced AI chip manufacturing facility.
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He said the so-called “Terafab” will have two facilities: one focused on AI chips for Tesla’s electric cars and Optimus humanoid robots; while the other will focus on AI chips in space-based data centers made by SpaceX.
“Either we build Terafab or we don’t have chips,” Musk said.
Reuters contributed to this report.
