Last month, Sony announced that it was going to increase the prices for its PlayStation 5 line of consoles, and now those price changes are technically in effect. The PlayStation 5 is Sony’s latest gaming console, having first released in 2020 with two versions available. At the time of the console’s launch, a standard PS5 with a disc drive cost $499.99, while the Digital Edition cost $449.99.
With the ongoing RAM crisis and the general economic problems facing the world, gaming and PC hardware have been getting more expensive. While gamers are used to video game consoles becoming cheaper over time, the exact opposite has happened with the PlayStation 5. Sony raised PS5 console prices before, and now it’s done it yet again.
Upgraded PSSR Is Here for Some Major Titles on PS5 Pro
Sony announces new titles that will benefit from its PSSR feature, which includes both major upcoming releases and past titles.
PS5 Consoles Get Price Hikes
The previously announced PS5 console price increases are now technically in effect, but various retailers may still have them at lower prices. If you’re in the market for a PS5, it’s definitely worth taking a look to see if you can get a deal. But in the meantime, the standard PS5 with a disc drive now costs $649.99, the Digital Edition costs $599.99, and the PS5 Pro costs $899.99. It’s possible that the consoles will eventually go down in price, but no plans to that effect have been announced. So, unless you are able to find a retailer still selling a PS5 for a lower cost, you will have to pay the inflated prices to get the console.
At the time of this writing, Amazon currently has PlayStation 5 consoles listed at their former price points. This means that you can get a standard PS5 with a disc drive from Amazon for $550 instead of the new price of $649.99. Likewise, the PS5 Digital Edition is $499. The PS5 Pro isn’t showing any availability at this time, but results may vary. Keep in mind that it’s entirely possible that by the time you read this the prices for the PS5 will have gone up on Amazon as well, but the consoles are listed at the legacy price as of time of publication.
BUY A PS5 RIGHT HERE!
The PS5 console price hikes couldn’t have come at a worse time for gamers. Grand Theft Auto 6 is launching on November 19, and with no PC port available, anyone that wants to play it at launch will have to do so on PS5 or Xbox Series X/S. GTA 6 is the kind of game that can convince people to finally buy a new console, and it’s likely that there are many that have been holding out until the long-awaited game’s launch. Unfortunately for anyone that has held off on upgrading to the PS5 family of consoles, they will now have to pay even more if they want to play GTA 6 when it finally launches on November 19.
Sony raising the prices of the PS5 line of systems is also bad news for next-generation platforms. While Sony has kept quiet about its next-gen plans, chances are good that the PlayStation 6 will launch in 2027 or 2028. Unless there is some major economic turnaround, one has to imagine that the PS6 will be even more expensive than a PS5 Pro, putting it in the area of $1,000+. If this happens, the PS6 will potentially be one of the most expensive video game consoles ever, and that’s not even taking its rumored handheld version into account as well.
One of the benefits of console gaming has been how it’s relatively affordable compared to PC gaming, but that advantage is slowly but surely disappearing. As video game consoles get more expensive, the barrier to entry becomes higher, and more people are locked out of playing the latest PlayStation games. It’s an unfortunate reality, and hopefully one that sees some course correction at some point down the line.
