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The multiple price increases that have made the base PS5 a $650 box have not resulted in any sort of drop in "customer demand", according to Sony.
In a recent Q&A session with investors, Sony was asked about its thinking on console pricing, its profitability, and how it is approaching the costs of a PS6.
It starts by touching on the vastly increased costs surrounding components, stating it's "not realistic for us to absorb all component cost increases". This has been a strong factor in the PS5's previous price increases, as Sony highlighted the "continued pressures in the global economic landscape" in its last price increase announcement.
Returning to the response, it said that sales of the PS5 are "proceeding as planned" and it doesn't think the price rises of the past few years have "led to a decline in customer demand". It continues:
As a principle, we do not intend to sell hardware at significant losses. At the same time, we are carefully monitoring the market and continuing to evaluate our approach. We believe it is important for us to make every effort to ensure that customers fully undertsand the value we provide in relation to pricing.
As for whether what Sony says is true, the sales evidence we have from the past few months suggests a sharp drop in interest.
In the USA, Sony registered its worst sales performance for the month of May since 2000. Year-over-year, unit sales were down by 58%, and there was a 43% drop in spending. This all occurred in the month after the latest round of PS5 price increases.
Then, in the UK and also for the month of May 2026, PS5 console sales dropped by 50%, and the system only bettered the Xbox Series X|S by 400 units.