Sony shocked the world with its PS5 price increases today, even if a French source had telegraphed them 24 hours earlier.
As it stands, a Digital Edition console will now cost $599.99, an eye-watering $200 more than at launch over five years ago.
Meanwhile, the PS5 Pro will increase to $899.99, putting it startlingly close to four figures.
These unprecedented times call for expert analysis, and GamesRadar reached out to Dr. Serkan Toto, the CEO of consultancy firm Kantan Games, for comment.
Surprisingly, he has a slightly optimistic outlook, despite all of the turmoil taking place:
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“It looks like Sony baked in potential future fluctuations and decided to go for one substantial increase in early 2026 instead of raising prices more frequently and over a longer period of time. This strategy also gives them some leeway to lower prices and offer 'deals' if things surprisingly get better.”
Toto believes, then, that Sony has opted for the nuclear option right out of the gate, and gone high in case things get worse in the future.
But as he explains, this would give it some room to reduce prices or offer discounts should the situation improve. It could also just, y’know, drop the price again like it used to.
We can see the value of one big increase preventing it from having to keep incrementally adjusting over the coming year, but that means anyone picking up a PS5 in the immediate future may get burned.
There seems to be no sensible solution here, and with the global economy seemingly getting worse by the week, it feels like there are hard times ahead for the gaming industry.