Sony announced on Thursday that it has decided to increase the recommended retail price (RRP) of PlayStation 5 consoles in select markets across Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Asia-Pacific (APAC), Latin America (LATAM), and Canada. The Japanese gaming giant said that the price hike is a result of challenging global economic environment, which includes “high global inflation rates as well as adverse currency trends”. Following this, rival Microsoft told Windows Central that it has no plans to hike the price of Xbox Series X/S, reiterating that the consoles’ RRP will remain at their baseline in various markets. Now, this statement comes as a surprise when the Redmond company has already hiked the prices of both consoles in India.
Is PS5 price being hiked in India?
As per an official blog post from Sony, PS5 prices have seen a nearly $50 price hike for its standard PS5 and PS5 Digital Edition consoles in the above-mentioned markets.
However, it should be noted that there’s no word on a hike in PS5 prices for the Indian market as of yet.
Notably, the PS5 price will not be increased in the US market, Sony confirmed.
Xbox Series X/S price already hiked in India
While Microsoft assured that its current-gen Xbox consoles won’t see a price hike, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S have already seen a Rs 3,000 and Rs 2,000 hike in India. This price hike was likely caused due to the US dollar fluctuation.
“Odd that Microsoft opportunistically swoops in to say it won’t increase prices after Sony announced it would. This is because in the last few months markets like India we have seen an increase that makes the Xbox Series S 8.5 percent more expensive while the Series X is 6 percent more expensive than what they were at launch,” industry analyst and writer Rishi Alwani told ABP Live.
How does the Xbox price hike affect the Indian market?
Alwani added that such hikes mar the growth of the overall demand for Xbox as well as for services such as Xbox Game Pass. “Considering that India is a value-oriented market, such decisions stagnate the growth of its high profile services like Xbox Game Pass and endanger the overall demand for Xbox as a whole. More so when it is already being outsold nearly 10:1 by the competition,” Alwani said.
If PS5 prices are indeed hiked in India, how will that work? Who will it affect the most?
Currently, PS5 and PS5 Digital prices in India are the same as their initial launch price — Rs 49,990 and Rs 39,990, respectively. However of late, Sony has been only making its consoles available in blink-and-miss restocks in India, bundling it with games such as Gran Turismo 7 or Horizon Forbidden West, pricing the consoles at around Rs 54,000 and Rs 44,000 for the PS5 and PS5 Digital bundles, respectively.
Alwani believes Sony will continue to “mask” price hikes with such bundles. However, he also suggested that a “marginal price hike” would “essentially mean nothing for India sales in the long term.”
Alwani went on to add that the “real threat” will be faced by PC/laptop prices. “Essentially Indian gamers will decide between spending more on a laptop/PC vs a PS5. Xbox won't enter the conversation for most. Mainly due to lack of availability of the Series X (worse than PS5) and that no one wants the Series S (price hike puts it close to PS5 Digital),” Alwani tweeted.