Sony Raises PS5 Prices by $50 Across All Models in US

Sony will increase PlayStation 5 console prices by $50 across all models in the United States starting August 21. The standard PS5 rises to $550, the Digital Edition to $500, and the PS5 Pro to $750. The company cited navigating a challenging economic environment for the increases.

A.K.A

[Sebby]

The company cited navigating a challenging economic environment for the increases.

A.K.A the Trump Tariffs.

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[timeOday]

Checks out, according to the Verge 3 months ago:

Sony still manufactures the majority of its PS5 hardware in China, and so its gaming business is especially at risk right now. Even after the 90-day pause and reduction in rates announced this week [story dated May 14, 2025], the 30 percent tariff on imports into the US from China is substantially higher than the 10 percent rate levied on other countries, and games consoles were not included in the exemptions for select other electronics.

https://www.theverg [theverge.com]

Re:A.K.A

[OrangeTide]

I'm facing about $80 per shipment fees if I order small print items from Europe, like indie tabletop role playing supplements from Portugal.

Does e-commerce of cottage industry products really steal American jobs? No, it doesn't. These little industries are reinforcing. If we have people all over the world contributing to the craft, it makes for MORE commerce and the US importers and shippers benefit directly and US cottage industries also benefit from there being a real market that operates in both directions.

Of course, MAGA doesn't give a shit about my little hobbies. They want to Make America Great Again and for them the ends justifies the means, not that any of them have read The Prince. Unfortunately their concept of what makes a nation Great is inconsistent and rarely intersects with reality. I think peace, prosperity, and individual liberty is great. Peaceful trade is better than military force. And soft power is more effective and longer lasting than hard power. Hard power is an atomic bomb that leaves a 1200 ft crater in seconds, very impressive. Soft power is the trickle that carves a grand canyon that is a dozen miles wide and hundreds of miles long.

One thing MAGA has gotten right is the implication that America is either no longer great or will soon not be great. Though their own movement is partially responsible for our decline. The only way out of this is to take our Republic back and put it firmly in the hands of the People (i.e. a democracy).
But we won't get our country back if people aren't going to stand up for America. Call their representatives frequently (once a month, once a week, every day?). Attend protests that target the power grab (Hands Off for example). Join your political party's local chapter, show up to the regular meeting and make some connections. Anything that helps people organize and apply pressure on the government is a step in a right direction. We pay the government, we elect the leaders, they work for us. We have somehow forgotten this.

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[gweihir]

I'm facing about $80 per shipment fees if I order small print items from Europe, like indie tabletop role playing supplements from Portugal.

That sucks! This is so mindlessly evil.

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[tlhIngan]

MAGA is correct, the country will no longer be great, but that's not because of anything other than what MAGA loves - billionaires. What has private equity not ruined? They've closed hundreds of store chains, laid millions of people off, screwed over pretty much everyone all so they can have more dollars. And now they're really having too much money they're going after the next money maker of YouTube content creation, where content creators shill out for Patreons so billionaires could line their pockets.

Of

Re: A.K.A

[dbialac]

Go sink an enemy battleship with an American made solar panel and let me know how that turns out. We need to make core manufacturing goods en mass.

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[KlomDark]

We definitely do need to return manufacturing back here, but the current MAGA approach "snap your fingers and it's here immediately" is beyond ignorant. It took 50 years to ship it out, it's going to take planning and years to get it back. Nothing's quick and easy. The way they are approaching it is killing all hope of it happening.

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[dbialac]

A lot of the core industrial factories were only outsourced in the last 20 years, so there's less pickup that you think and still people who know what they're doing in the workforce. You're right that you can't snap your fingers, but had this started when Trump was elected the first time, we'd be well underway and probably back to being an industrial powerhouse. After this 8 year gap, the turnaround needs to start as quickly as possible. And forget Trump. Had W not accelerated this process in the first plac

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[KlomDark]

We should have risen up en mass when they first started shipping manufacturing out in the 1970s. God that short term thinking has fucked us.

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[dbialac]

Add on the 1980s when of Reagan fired the air traffic controllers.

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[dbialac]

Adding on, we did. Unions went berserk. TV ads were on the air that said, "Made in the USA. It matters!" There were protests all over the place. Companies were hesitant to move manufacturing overseas. That started to change by the late 80s and then W hit the accelerator pedal starting in 2000. But hey, Wall Street was happy, right?

Re: A.K.A

[OrangeTide]

When the stock market became the main metric of success for both parties was when the working class was well and truly fucked.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

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[93 Escort Wagon]

So much winning! I miss the Biden days of lower prices.

That makes no sense - we weren't winning then! And dangerous terrorist criminal illegal immigrants were making our lettuce fields unsafe!

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[gweihir]

Indeed. And I am sure they were stealing produce!

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

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[gweihir]

Indeed. I am waiting in breathless anticipation what lies and hallucinations the usual morons will come up with to claim that it is not the tariffs.

Re: A.K.A

[blue trane]

How can you know they would have found some other excuse-du-jour to raise prices anyway, because that's what business does?

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[SirSlud]

that's what business does

This statement is straight up false with even a surface knowledge of the history of console (read: fixed embedded systems) hardware pricing.

It's also just false in a whole host of other ways. Does believing in such laughably simple absolutes help your head not hurt?

Re: A.K.A

[blue trane]

What about the story making the rounds of the news shows yesterday that McDonald's and Pizza Hut are cutting prices? Which do you think will influence voters more?

FTFY

[YuppieScum]

The company cited nonsensical tariffs imposed by an economically-illiterate orange buffoon for the increases.

As an aside...

[YuppieScum]

...it's going to be interesting to see the moderation summary for that post.

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[SoCalChris]

Give the babbling idiot some credit, he's not just economically illiterate.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER - SCC

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[gweihir]

Well spotted! Trump is a all-around clueless idiot and that is quite an achievement. He still needs to work on incompetence in grand-standing, lying and fraud though. Otherwise the list is not complete.

Now the question becomes

[Inglix the Mad]

how long it takes people to get mad they are paying more for groceries, in some cases dramatically more than last year.

Or maybe when it comes to Thanksgiving dinner, or maybe Christmas shopping. I've hear people unhappy for the latest back to school already.

Re:Now the question becomes

[ArchieBunker]

MAGA does not care. They could be living on the street huddled around a burning garbage can muttering at least I'm not a democrat

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

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[linuxguy]

> MAGA does not care. They could be living on the street huddled around a burning garbage can muttering at least I'm not a democrat

This x 100.

To these people the means justifies the end. "Who cares if I am eating shit now. I owned the libs for a brief period and that makes it all worthwhile."

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[Inglix the Mad]

MAGA won't turn against their God Emperor, no matter what he does, but people who voted for him / Republicans that are not MAGA will turn on him.

Re:Now the question becomes

[mjwx]

MAGA does not care. They could be living on the street huddled around a burning garbage can muttering this is all the fault of the democrats

Fixed that for you.

They seem particularly delulu and almost immune to reality.

I'm hoping most Americans have realised what a massive mistake they've made as it will take a huge effort given how much they've gerrymandered and they've still got a year keep doing it.

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[strikethree]

They could be living on the street huddled around a burning garbage can muttering at least I'm not a democrat

A stopped clock is correct twice a day. Not being a democrat is wise, even if you are doing it for the wrong reasons.

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[KlomDark]

You are 100% lying

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[gweihir]

The last thing the common moron is willing to admit is having made a mistake. That takes a major event and major effort. Kind of a corollary to the Dunning-Kruger Effect. Personally, I am willing to forgive anybody that makes it to actual insight in this matter. Better late than never.

Sanewashing

[ArchieBunker]

This is sanewashing in action. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

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[ukoda]

Only if you want to be honest, not if you want to stay in business in a hostile environment.

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[Rinnon]

It's just Sony looking out for number 1. They aren't going to risk the ire of POTUS and become the next foreign company in his crosshairs for the sake of telling people something they already know. What do they actually gain out of that? Some limited credibility for telling it like it is? What's that? Can you dividend it to the shareholders? No, this euphemism is the best we can expect.

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[ukoda]

I would 100% agree, but the motivation is worth considering. By say "navigating a challenging economic environment" you are not directly pointing your finger at the cause leaving trump free to invent other excuses for the price increases. If you say the truth and say it was trump's tariffs then trump will attack you and threaten to single you out for retaliation. This has been seen already when companies such as Walmart tell the truth and trump then attacks them.

Basically sanewashing is a commercial d

$50 isn't much

[OrangeTide]

On the other hand I could pick up 4 or 5 indie games on Steam instead.

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[SScorpio]

The issue is this lessens the price difference for a PC. NVIDIA's RTX 5000 series has been available at MSRP lately.

You can build a PC that outperforms the PS5 Pro for $1,000 versus $750. (Ryzen 7600x /w 16GB RTX 5060ti)

And Sony charges $80/year if you want to play non-F2P games online. So the break even price is down to three years, and that's not taking into account all the free games, and greater discounts on games for the PC.

Re: inb4 "big mean companies are taking advantage"

[blue trane]

Do you think anyone but yourself cares about rich whiny gamers moaning about $50?

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[ukoda]

I care, and I have never brought a new games console and have not been a heavy gamer in decades.

I care because it is a real world example about how things are changing in the USA vs the rest of the world. Watching the US economy from the outside has the same fascination as watching a car crash, it is at the same time both horrific and a warning to not make the same choice as they did. It helps us remember the importance of keeping our democracies robust and free of interference and to vote for politici

Consoles used to get price cuts

[Stormwatch]

Historically, consoles' launch prices were a premium that only enthusiasts accepted to pay. Afterwards, they would get price cuts. [fandom.com] They had to, otherwise they would simply not sell beyond that niche.

The original PlayStation launched for $300, and after just four years it was selling for $100. The Nintendo 64 went from $200 to $100 in three years. And yet, the PlayStation 5 never got a price cut in five years, nor the Switch in eight years. You can't blame Orange Man Bad's recent tariffs for that.

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[organgtool]

And yet, the PlayStation 5 never got a price cut in five years

This is a fair point.

You can't blame Orange Man Bad's recent tariffs for that.

You can't blame the tariffs for the price stagnation, but you can blame them for the price increase. As relatively uncommon as it is to have the price stagnate for a console that is nearly five years old, it's virtually unprecedented in the U.S. for a five-year old console to go up in price - and that can be attributed to the tariffs. And the fact that the price doe

Re: Consoles used to get price cuts

[blue trane]

Will the price increase save just one person from gaming addiction, and its associated violence?

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[sound+vision]

No, we can't blame him for that. We can, however, blame him for this.

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[sound+vision]

You don't recall the man telling you you only get 3 dolls this year?

Thanks, Trump!

[Locke2005]

This was inevitable, given the Trump Tariffs. Tariffs, the magic bullet that solves all problem! When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

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[sound+vision]

There's also the other problem: When you're a tool, everyone looks like a nail.

Fuck me harder China!

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh China, I liked that you were reaming America in trade, stealing our secrets, and that the tariffs weren't reciprocal! It's only OK when you put tariffs on our products, not if we put them on yours...

Meanwhile the rest of us will have patients, because things are already BETTER! I don't give a FUCK about $50, when Trillions have already been promised/invested back into U.S. soil. Tariffs were also a huge factor to why Mexico put a stop to much of the fentanyl houses that lined the border, that were f