It's happening. Although many predicted that Nintendo would jack up the already controversial price of the Switch 2 thanks to Trump's tariffs — preorders are currently suspended in the US, likely so they can figure out what pricetag they can get away with – it seems Sony has beaten them to the punch. In a blog post today, Sony announced it had made the "tough decision" (yeah, right) to jack up the price of the PS5 in certain regions.
With a backdrop of a challenging economic environment, including high inflation and fluctuating exchange rates, SIE has made the tough decision to raise the recommended retail price (RRP) of the PlayStation 5 console in select markets in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Australia and New Zealand.
If you're in Australia, you'll be paying over 800 dollars for your six-year-old console. If you're in New Zealand, it'll be closer to a thousand. Consoles getting a price drop late in their life cycle has been the standard for a while now, but the opposite is virtually unheard of. At least for now. There's no telling what kind of precedent this will set – but it'll almost certainly embolden Nintendo to jack up their price even further when they come back to the negotiating table. We need an 80s-style industry crash, like, yesterday. As the old adage goes, "I want shorter games with worse graphics made by people who are paid more to work less and I'm not kidding."
