Recently, the US imposed a series of tariffs on goods produced in many countries around the world, most notably China, where a lot of consoles are manufactured. Now, Sony has said it won't be ruling out further price hikes for the PS5.
During a recent earnings call, Sony chief financial officer Lin Tao says "we may pass [tariff costs on] to the price," meaning we could see another price hike on the already expensive console. Sony Group Corporation president and CEO Hiroki Totoki also adds that "whether it is going to be manufactured in the US or not, it needs to be considered going forward."
Bringing manufacturing out of Asia and into Europe or the US would likely also involve increasing the price though, as the average wages are higher in Western Europe and the US than in China and South East Asia.
Fortunately for you, the US has paused its tariffs on goods from China and the tax is back down to 30% for at least 90 days. There's no word on what the tariffs will be after this three-month pause, but we can all hope they won't get that high again.
On Twitter, people seem unsurprised by news of potential price hikes. "So, what were people expecting? That Sony was just going to eat up the cost of practically their only gaming segment relationship while Xbox doesn't have to?" writes one Twitter user. "Of course, this is to be expected."
It should be noted that Xbox consoles are also often made in China. Microsoft is a US company, but it still outsources.
Sony also believes it will sell fewer PS5 consoles this coming fiscal year, and industry analyst Dr Serkan Toto says: "It's not easy to do business for a console manufacturer these days: there are tariffs, inflation, higher production costs, slower pace of first-party releases, or general political uncertainty about the future to consider."
For now, check out all the best PS5 games you can play right now.
