SHOCKER: After Nintendo & Xbox Raise Prices, Sony Considers Jumping On the PS5 Price-Hike Train!
- Smash JT
- 5 hours ago
- 4 min read
Sony Considers Global PS5 Price Hike to Supposedly Offset Trump’s "Tariffs"... But Why Should Gamers Around The World Foot the Bill?
Sony just dropped some wild news during their latest earnings call: they're (of course) now considering hiking PlayStation prices globally to offset the financial blow of U.S. tariffs. Oh, and yeah, they’re specifically citing President Donald Trump’s policies as the trigger that ignited it all. There's only one small issue - the tariff's don't affect all regions in the world...
According to CFO Lin Tao, Sony is now expecting to be hit with roughly 100 billion yen (or, around ~$680 million USD) in tariff-related costs. To soften the blow, they’re now exploring a couple options: raising prices on customers or moving manufacturing to the United States. All signs seem to point directly to the PlayStation 5 being the item in question here, especially given how exposed Sony’s gaming division is to China-based manufacturing in recent years.
U.S. Tariffs, Global Price Hikes?
So, here’s where it all gets a tad... messy. Despite the tariffs obviously being U.S.-specific, Sony's still floating the idea of raising prices worldwide. That’s right - countries like the UK, Australia, and much of Europe, who've have already endured multiple PS5 price hikes, would ALSO get slapped again. Their attempted justification here being, according to Sony leadership, it’s about spreading the cost instead of hammering their largest market, the U.S. I have a hard time buying this excuse, and lean much more towards this being an opportunity to inject greed where there shouldn't be. But hey, game industry in 2025, am I right?
Let’s be real: this is another slap in the face to everyone outside the States who we could easily argue has already been overpaying for years. If you’re in one of those regions, you’ve already subsidized the American market, and now Sony wants you to do it again because of U.S. politics? Haha. Classic. And the fact they don't mention the obvious elephant in the room of how Nintendo and Microsoft just raised prices while their stocks continue to hit all time highs? Spare me, Sony...
Oh, and What About That $1.7 Billion Stock Buyback?
Let’s also not ignore that Sony just announced a $1.7 billion stock buyback - on the same day they started floating price hikes to cover this $680 million tariff burden. Think about just how ridiculous this sounds when you pair the two together. They made $68 billion last year, but now, on top of that, Sony now wants us to eat the cost of a tariff that doesn’t even amount to 1% of their annual revenue. Seems like there’s plenty of room in the margins without bleeding gamers dry... But won't someone please think of the shareholders!?
If anything, that stock buyback announcement shows where Sony's true priorities lie: keeping shareholders happy, not protecting its user base whatsoever.
U.S. Manufacturing? Don’t Hold Your Breath
Sony CEO Hiroki Totoki mentioned the idea of producing PlayStations in the U.S. as a long-term fix, calling it an “efficient strategy” going forward. But let’s be honest: almost every PS5 component is still made overseas, specifically like in Taiwan, Korea, and China, by companies like TSMC, SK Hynix, Micron, and others.
The most they’ll do on U.S. soil is slap on some side panels and call it “assembled in America.” It wouldn't really fix anything as far as cost cutting. At least, initially. Long term? Who knows. Maybe the chip manufacturers also relocate or open up offices in the US to meet the demands. This may all be a part of Trump's long term plan to bring jobs back to America. Whether or not it works remains to be seen, and in the meantime, everyone has to suffer. At least it would seem, in the short term...
Even with chip fabs being built in Arizona and Texas, that’s a decades-long infrastructure shift, not any kind of short-term fix. Getting the supply chain, skilled labor, and cost efficiency up to scale is a fantasy in the near term... especially if Sony still wants to offer a competitively priced console.
Xbox and Nintendo: Setting the Tone
As I mentioned earlier, it’s worth noting that Microsoft already raised prices on Xbox consoles by up to $100... and others even higher...
Meanwhile, Nintendo has so far held firm on Switch 2 console prices, but raising accessory prices upwards of 5-10% more, and then even game prices to upwards of $80 or even potentially more in the future. That puts Sony in a tricky spot: raise prices again and risk further backlash, or... eat the cost and hold the line, going against the grain of what the others are doing?
If Sony follows through with global PS5 price hikes, citing U.S. tariffs... it’ll confirm what myself and many others already suspect: it all has less to do with any kind of survival, and far more to do with profit preservation. Trump may be the convenient scapegoat here, but the numbers don’t lie. Sony can absolutely absorb this cost. They’re choosing not to, and trying to shift that burden onto gamers everywhere. I don't think this direction of the game industry is really all that sustainable.
Sony wants YOU to pay for Trump’s tariffs, even if you don’t live in the U.S. - And while they’re pretending it’s about survival, their billion-dollar stock buyback screams to the contrary...
