PS5

Sony

While some regions escaped the recent round of PS5 price hikes, that did not last long. Not even a month after Sony raised prices for PlayStation hardware in the US, UK, Europe and Japan, Southeast Asia has now been hit with prices increases. Sony is still citing the same reasoning:

“With continued pressures in the global economic landscape, we’ve made the decision to increase the prices of PS5, PS5 Pro, and PlayStation Portal remote player globally. We know that price changes impact our community, and after careful evaluation, we found this was a necessary step to ensure we can continue delivering innovative, high-quality gaming experiences to players worldwide.”

What are the new prices in these new regions? Here they are, and they increase in just a few days on May 1:

Singapore

PS5 – SGD 849

PS5 Digital Edition – SGD 764

PS5 Pro – SGD 1,167

Malaysia

PS5 – MYR 2,799

PS5 Digital Edition – MYR 2,499

PS5 Pro – MYR 3,999

Thailand

PS5 – THB 20,990

PS5 Digital Edition – THB 18,790

PS5 Pro – THB 30,990

Indonesia

PS5 – IDR 11,399,000

PS5 Digital Edition – IDR 9,999,000

Philippines

PS5 – PHP 40,032

Vietnam

PS5 – VND 16,900,000

And as a reminder, here are the prices for those already-increased regions:

U.S.

PS5 – $649.99

PS5 Digital Edition – $599.99

PS5 Pro – $899.99

U.K.

PS5 – £569.99

PS5 Digital Edition – £519.99

PS5 Pro – £789.99

Europe

PS5 – €649.99

PS5 Digital Edition – €599.99

PS5 Pro – €899.99

Japan

PS5 – ¥97,980

PS5 Digital Edition – ¥89,980

PS5 Pro – ¥137,980

This is not just a PlayStation thing. Xbox went “first” in raising prices on all its hardware, then did it again a short while later. Nintendo had to increase the price of the original Switch, but it has been hanging on by its teeth trying to keep the Switch 2 at $450, which has led to slowing sales even before any price change.

These Southeast Asia price hikes are similar in scope to what we’ve already seen, meaning those in those countries are not terribly amused by how much these consoles cost. These companies are between a rock and a hard place, given how much components for this hardware have increased in cost, sometimes due to tariffs, and especially memory, often due to AI gobbling it all up. But on the consumer side, no one cares why; everyone just cares that it’s happened.

It makes almost no sense to spend this much money on any of these consoles right now, given these hundreds-of-dollar price changes since they debuted over five years ago in 2020, which we never, ever see in this industry, as usually prices are cut over time as a system ages. The idea that you might want to pay $900 for a PS5 Pro as the “best” place to play GTA 6 seems ludicrous. Reports that a PS6 is coming come with the caveat that it may have been pushed back to 2028 or even 2029 due to what’s currently going on. Xbox has started teasing new hardware in the form of Helix, which appears to be some sort of console/PC hybrid, but that obviously raises questions about cost when a five-year-old Xbox Series X can cost $800 right now.

So, who will increase prices next?

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