Sony Raising PS5 Price to $650 Starting Next Week

Sony is raising the price of its PlayStation 5 console by $100, bringing the standard edition to $650 starting next Thursday. The Digital Edition is going up the same amount, and the PS5 Pro will jump $150 to $900.

Sony didn't give a specific reason for the increase, only pointing to "continued pressures in the global economic landscape." Analysts say the more likely culprit is a chip shortage driven by AI data centers, which are buying up semiconductors that would otherwise go into consumer electronics.

The move is a sharp break from how the gaming industry has traditionally worked, where consoles got cheaper over time as the technology aged. The PS5 launched in 2020.

This is the second hike in under a year. Sony raised prices by $50 last August in response to President Donald Trump's tariffs.