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Sony says it is still seeing a high demand for its current-generation console PlayStation 5, even after its recommended retail prices have increased in most territories. The company also provided a positive update about the PS5 production, suggesting it could be more widely available in the coming months.
The PlayStation maker held its earnings call for the second quarter of the fiscal year 2022, ending last September, where Sony announced the PS5 shipments had already surpassed 25 million units. And when asked if the PS5 price hike had some effect on the demand for gaming hardware, Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki said (transcription via Seeking Alpha), “We have not seen any dampening of the demand, but we have to monitor what will happen in the market going forward.”
Sony announced the PS5 price increases last August, which brought the disc version’s price up to €549.99 in Europe, £479.99 in the U.K., 4,299 yuan in China, AUD$799.95 in Australia, MXN$14,999 in Mexico, and CAD$649.99 in Canada. A similar price change was implemented in the Japanese market in September that, increased the console’s price to ¥60,478.
PlayStation president Jim Ryan said in a blog post that the price hikes were caused by worsening global inflation and currency trends that have had adverse effects on the industry. The company said at the time that price increases were not planned in the U.S., and Sony has not changed that to this day.
During the earnings call last week, Sony also announced that the challenges it faced in producing and shipping PS5 units have “significantly eased.” Like most tech products launched amid the pandemic, console gamers have had difficulties finding an available PS5 in stores and without relying on overpriced units being sold by unauthorized resellers online.
Those days should be over soon, though. “Regarding production of PS5 hardware, restrictions on the supply of materials and logistics have significantly eased, and the number of units produced during the quarter exceeded 6.5 million, progressing faster than planned,” Totoki said.
Photo by Triyansh Gill on Unsplash
