During its latest earnings call, Sony revealed that the PlayStation 5 price increase didn’t impact the demand for this console. Players are still eager to get their hands on a PlayStation 5, despite the supply shortage and the higher price tag of Sony’s console in some regions.
In late August, Sony increased the price of PlayStation 5 in various countries including Europe, Canada, Australia, Japan, and China. This price increase amounted to about 10% of the original PlayStation 5 cost. Sony explained that the company needed to adjust the price of the PlayStation 5 due to general inflation and “adverse currency trends.” This price hike didn’t impact the United States.
During Sony’s Q2 2022 earnings call, the company addressed the price increase of the PlayStation 5. Chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki explained that “so far, due to the price increase, we have not seen any dampening of the demand but we have to monitor what will happen in the market going forward.” Despite the PlayStation 5 costing more than its direct competitor the Xbox Series X, demand seems to remain strong for Sony’s console.
The new pricing of the PlayStation 5 should bring around 10 billion yen to Sony, which amounts to roughly 68 million USD. The total playtime of PlayStation 5 users increased during Q2 compared to the previous quarter but decreased 10% year-on-year as players had more opportunities to go outside as the COVID-19 situation was getting better.
According to Sony, players purchased fewer older games than before, while the sales of major new titles remained strong. The company concluded that PlayStation 5 users played a smaller number of titles to spend less money. This desire to save money didn’t prevent players to purchase a console though, and Sony announced increasing the PlayStation 5 production to improve the stock situation before the end of the year. The company stated that in September, it took an average of 17.5 hours to sell 100,000 consoles after their arrival in stores.
As Christmas is getting near and new exclusive games are coming out soon, players are looking to purchase Sony’s console. The PlayStation 5 is home to some exclusive games such as The Last of Us 2 and the upcoming God of War Ragnarok, which received raving reviews. Sony announced plans to produce more PlayStation 5 to meet the demand in the holiday season, with a target of 30 million consoles shipped within the next year.
Source: Sony
