Sony is using the opportunity of the PS5’s smaller, slimmer relaunch to stealthily bump the price of the Digital Edition in the United States. While we already know you’ll need to pay extra for a standalone vertical stand, the organisation has also made the decision to hike the overall cost of the non-Blu-ray unit by $50. This means, moving forwards, the disc-less device will increase from an MSRP of $399.99 to $449.99.
The price of the Blu-ray model has not changed, and costs just $499.99. As the standalone disc drive will retail for $79.99, you’ll actually save $20 stumping up for the bundle as opposed to buying the Digital Edition and Blu-ray add-on separately. The pricing is a bit confusing – especially when you start factoring in other currencies – but the bottom line is that it’ll become more expensive to buy the Digital Edition starting in November in the United States.
Has this put you off purchasing the new model at all? How do you feel about the stealth price increase? Let us know in the comments section below.
Comments 41
You actually save $30 dollars on the bundle in the US. Meanwhile in the UK, you only save £10, as the separate disk drive is an absurd £99.99. The pricing between regions makes no sense.
its even more when you factor in the price of the now not included vertical stand $29.99
Big increase in Japan, too.
(From genki_jp on X)
I’m glad I bought my digital edition when I did.
Controllers and other accessories also going up in price here later this month
"The Disc Drive will be sold separately for $79.99 plus a console price hike"
Making the digital PS5 total investment far more expensive than any other console in existence.
Not to mention an additional $30.00 for the stand if you ever want the flexibility of seeing that console vertically.
Looking at $40 extra in dollaryoos my neck of the woods,($160 Blu-ray add-on). It's a nice option to have rather than be "locked in",as you are on the current digital models whether ps5 or Xbox.
But if you're on the fence or have an extensive ps4 physical library common sense says you get the model bundled with the drive from the get go.
Happy enough with my current model purchase during the recent Days of Play promotion,& daresay there'll be more as they'll want momentum to continue beyond this year.
Sticking to my Digital PS5. Already got the black plates for it and see no reason to upgrade unless we get the Pro. However Sony had to increase the price otherwise they would have had to way overcharge for the disk add on if the digital console alone was just $400. They kind of had to do it this way. This also help’s them pay less in shipping them with it being reduced in weight. So it’s a win for them financially.
I'm happy with my full fat original ps5. I have a huge collection of ps4 games and it made total sense for me to have the disc based console from the off. I've nothing against digital and i can see the advantages but i dislike the pricing of the games. At least there are options for everybody who enjoy gaming.
@HonestHick now you've done it. I can hear the braying mob over those hills marching your way for saying the price hike is a logical thing 🤣. I hope you enjoy being pitch forked today buddy 👍
At this point why not buy a PC with any component you like? I am joking but not sure I like this trend of buying bits and bobs for a console much.
I’ll stick with my disc edition original.
@RainbowGazelle
Yeah overhere we have to pay €120 for the bd drive. But hey you can always buy the disc version.
Isn't the point of slim version is it's cheaper? Man sony & xbox sure is greedy this gen 😕
@Northern_munkey well wouldn’t be the first time i was the target of a topic. Think i can handle it. Jokes aside…. Well one more joke the PS5 digital is more expensive than the PS5 digital and Sony has released more hardware SKU’s this gen than next gen games. There that will ensure the pitchforks. But there is truth in all i say here. The man that believes in generations but couldn’t keep his job for a full generation has been after Sony maxing out profits and this new console sku helps in some ways as i said earlier with shipping cost going down. Also there was no way they would go cheaper on the digital and add on than the base with the disk drive. So they had no choice but to follow this plan and know they are a market leader and will sell consoles no matter price. Nintendo has to worry about price as it’s a huge kid market, and Xbox has to worry about price due to being a smaller global brand outside of the United States. I see no reason for anyone that has a PS5 to get this device. New buyers will largely have no choice but to pay more for the digital PS5 than the digital PS5 costs. I see the reason in it, but didn’t say i would per take in it. I am keeping my digital PS5 and not buying another PS5 unless the Pro comes out in 2024. That i will day one buy my friend. 😊
The pricing for this is all over the place and really highlights Sony's policy of scalping their loyal fans this gen.
@RainbowGazelle Meanwhile in europe it's 119 euro's lmao
I would have thought that a slim version would come with a slim price. Weren't all previous gens slim version cheaper than its original version?
@TommyNL @Zyzzjan Oof. That's ridiculous!
No reason to update from my PS5 phat with disk drive. I will do it next November when they release ps5 pro
I think the US price for Digital may be higher because they already have an even higher percentage of Digital than Physical games sales compared to the UK, EU and ROW.
But it's worth noting that whenever platform holders like Sony or MS report this split they completely ignore the second hand market, which is still very large in many countries. So don't take the 80+% digital line they spin us as gospel, as that only includes a part of the market, the part they make revenue from.
The logic is clear. They are pushing people to outright buy the disc drive edition from the start, which is a good think, because it looks like Sony still wants to support physical media, at least until the PS6 comes out.
It's an easy sell for shops and showroom assistants also. They'll direct you towards the better deal.
You guys have to put a negative spin on everything. I see it as a good thing because now the ratio of disc vs discless will be even more in favor of disc version, which means Sony are still happy to keep physical media alive, unlike MS.
We come from 2 consecutive years of 8% Inflation where ALL the products increased price, people seems to forget that.
Moreover, this model introduces 2 advantages: bigger disk and modularity. Modularity will allow you to easily replace the blue-ray drive if it breaks, to send it back for service while keeping the console etc.
What will advertising standards make of adverts where the console is shown vertically when it doesn't come with a stand, as the instructions will definitely say "do not use vertically unless you have a stand". Which means they will potentially be using the images where it looks better vertically to sell the console, when in reality you don't get what is shown 🤔
Edit: Just noticed they've already included the **sold seperately** still though, they clearly know it looks better vertically hence all adverts show it this way, so it's still a bit of a wind up
They saw MS release the upgraded ‘budget’ console Series S with a price increase. And because Sony see themselves as a more ‘premium, brand to MS, realised they had the opportunity to increase price.
Bad mistake, should have kept it cheaper to keep turning the screws on sales.
Being the PS5 is doing well Sony believes they can get away with this, not the first time big corporations have done this and unfortunately won't be the last.
Saving $50 to buy the digital version which means you would not have access to all movie or game discs, whether purchased, borrowed or received as gifts, really makes no sense to me, it’s only a 10% savings, which for me in the US would mostly be made up by the tax. 🤑
And just a reminder to everyone that Sony isn’t pitching this as a slim cheaper model to be sold side by side with the original, it’s a newer model to save Sony money, and therefore make them more money.
Well, it’s called Paystation for a reason since the 8th gen
I'm so happy I switched to the PC a year ago. Bet on $ony to milk you dry however they can. I'm just here for the exclusives that are being ported to the PC at this point.
Date November ? Available
Chalk this up to inflation. This is the first time in my memory where there is a price increase mid-gen when a slimmer system is released. I think they would have increased it further but they did tricky stuff like charging extra for a stand and a disk drive to make the base cost as cheap as they possibly could. I don't know what their margin is on the system, but typically they are sold at a break even cost or even at a loss to the manufacturer.
@RainbowGazelle I suspect this is to help clear out the existing digital models after these machines are released. People who by the disc model will be basically buying the same thing and won't even consider the drive being replaceable. Those buying digital will think twice about buying it, now that th enew models have a safety net, even if it basically has an "I'm stupid" tax tacked on. Once the old models are cleared out they'll drop the price of the digital to meet the price difference. Then 6 mos after that drop the price of both by 50 to 100 dollars when the PS5 Pro/Edge releases either at 499 or 549. I have a feeling it'll be a 50 dollar price drop with the Pro Edge at 549. Keep a 100 dollar price difference between the 3. We could even see a Pro without a drive for the price of the base system.
Guess we'll see by this time next year.
@__jamiie it's no wonder people cheered for Jim Ryan's retirement.
Overall I just feel leaning more and more towards pc gaming for next generation.
Kind of glad I've started to peace-out at this generation.
Disk-drives, stands, 100 noops+ controllers and inconsistent pricing - from underdog to overlord, how far ye have strayed since the days of "299".
@themightyant Keep in mind these are US numbers, and that they are 10 years old, but then, 2nd hand unit sales were about 30% of total sales (digital +physical new + physical 2nd hand). With physical contribution overall falling quickly, I'd say nowadays, physical second hand is probably no more than 10% of total unit sales at best.
@Kalime78 I don’t know how they can ever calculate that. All the different 2nd hand stores don’t publish numbers, plus game sharing between friends, game rentals, eBay, Craigslist, Facebook, Gumtree, local ads, game swaps, and all the dozens of other ways physical discs are exchanged etc. None of which are accurately tracked.
The closest they can have is “we sold X amount of the game (physical and digital) and according to statistics of people who played online Y number of people played it total”, the difference is just a part of the second hand market. (for starters not everyone plays all the games they buy. Aka our backlogs)
I don’t know about the US but here in the UK second hand gaming seems strong.
Well previously UK/EU etc got a price hike while USA didn't, so now it's USA's turn to get a price hike, while the UK etc don't 👍
Not that I'm interested in buying this new version, and just sticking with the previous PS5 digital version 🙂
Playstation, for the payers.
I can see this as a way to slowly phase out disc as they can decide:
A) how many cheaper to make digital units get sold
B) How many digital versions with the disc drive attached get sold (Could intentionally restrict supply over time)
C) How many Disc drive add ons get sold (Could intentionally restrict supply over time)
first time in playstation history where there is a price increase with the "slim" model. yup, this gen keeps getting worse. sony has not given me any reasons to own a ps5. it is nice being able to catch up with the old backlog, though, and worry less about the latest releases (many of which are still on ps4 anyways).
@themightyant I'm not gonna go into any details on this, but actually they can ^_^
@Kalime78 OK... so source is "trust me bro?"
@themightyant hehehe, yes, the source is me. I've seen it...
I understand this doesn't sound trustworthy, though ^_^
Tap here to load 41 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...