Sony Announces Price Rises for PS5, PS5 Pro, and PlayStation Portal, Blames 'Continued Pressures in the Global Economic Landscape'
Sony has announced price rises for PS5, PS5 Pro, and PlayStation Portal, blaming “continued pressures in the global economic landscape.”
The prices rises, which come into effect on April 2, 2026, were “a necessary step to ensure we can continue delivering innovative, high-quality gaming experiences to players worldwide,” Isabelle Tomatis
Vice President, Global Marketing, Sony Interactive Entertainment, said in a post on the PlayStation Blog.
“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,” Tomatis said. “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.”
The updated recommended retail prices for PS5 consoles are effective starting April 2, 2026 as follows:
U.S.
U.K.
Europe
Japan
The updated recommended retail price for PlayStation Portal remote player is effective starting April 2 as follows.
Sony last hiked the price of PS5 in the U.S. in August last year, when it confirmed $50 price rises for the PS5, PS5 Digital Edition, and PS5 Pro. The base PS5 is now a whopping $100 more expensive, as is the PS5 Digital Edition. The PS5 Pro, meanwhile, has gone up an eye-watering $150 to $900. The PlayStation Portal has increased $50.
Early reaction to the price rises is a mix of anger and disappointment, but few are shocked at the news. There is also growing concern that gaming is becoming too expensive for many people. Speaking to Edge magazine (via PC Gamer), Circana analyst Mat Piscatella said gaming is trending towards becoming a hobbye focused on high-earners.
“A bigger portion of the market is going to people who are more affluent, have higher incomes, and the lower-income parts of the market are really struggling,” said Piscatella. “That premium gaming space is leaning more and more on the affluent consumer.”
The price rises come amid a turbulent time for global markets due to U.S. tariffs and the wars in Iran and Ukraine. The cost of RAM has also skyrocketed amid the global memory shortage sparked by AI demand. And Sony is not alone in raising the price of consoles, Nintendo increased the price of the original Nintendo Switch in August last year, and there are fears it could be about to make the Switch 2 more expensive. Microsoft raised the prices of Xbox consoles, controllers, and headsets in May last year. It makes you wonder, are we approaching the $1,000 console?
The PlayStation price rises kick in eight months before the release of GTA 6, which is expected to drive significant sales of the current generation of consoles (Rockstar’s surefire behemoth won’t launch on PC day one).
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
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