August 26, 2022: -On Thursday, Sony introduced the recommended retail price of its PS5 games console in many multinational markets, which cited the global economic environment and high inflation.

The Japanese gaming firm said the price surge is effective directly except in Japan, where they will start on September 15.

“The global economic environment is a competition many of you worldwide are experiencing,” Sony said. “We’re seeing high global inflation rates and adverse currency trends impacting consumers and creating pressure on many industries,” Sony added.

The company stated that “based on these challenging economic conditions,” it has determined to raise the price of its flagship console.

Sony’s price surge comes between a slump for gaming companies, having Nintendo and Microsoft, which experienced their sales slide in the coming quarter as the pandemic-induced boom began to wear off.

Sony’s gaming unit sales declined 2% annually in June, while its operating profit declined almost 37%. The Japanese company also cut its full-year profit forecast for its gaming division.

Sony is also contending with ongoing supply chain issues that make it difficult to make enough PS5 consoles to meet demand. There has been a visible shortage of PS5s globally. Rival Xbox has not yet announced any price growth.

Given the fact “that the PS5 has been severely supplying constrained since launch, with many consumers unable to buy Sony’s recent console, and the fact that Microsoft has not shown any indication yet of growing its Xbox Series pricing, there is no doubt that this price surge will have been a hard decision to make,” Piers Harding-Rolls, research director at Ampere Analysis, wrote on Thursday.

Harding-Rolls said that he does not anticipate this putting off gamers wanting to purchase a PlayStation 5, given that demand has increased.