Nintendo has thrown its hat in the ring in regards to the recent PlayStation 5 price increase in several regions.
The statement was given to Eurogamer, and simply notes that Nintendo has “no plans to increase the trade price of its hardware.” This makes Sony the outlier in its plans to jack up the cost of its most recent hardware, with Microsoft also stating that its suggested retail pricing would remain the same.
The PlayStation 5 saw an increase of £30 / €50 in seven regions, with the prices in the United States remaining untouched. Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan explained that this was due to the current “economic environment” and “global inflation rates”.
Ryan explicitly stated that this was “a necessity given the current global economic environment”, although Nintendo and Microsoft appear to disagree sticking with their respective price points.
It’s unusual for base hardware to receive an increase in price over time. Typically, retail prices are reduced over time, not including revised models. Notably, PlayStation’s first-party software saw a price hike this generation. In the US it only went up $10, but in the UK its game prices shot up by £20, with the new £69.99 price point currently being the highest price attached to the base release of a game on the market.
As of the time of publication, the PlayStation 5’s price in the UK is £479.99 for the disc version, and £389.99 for digital only.
Meanwhile, the Xbox Series X is £449.99, while the Series S is £249.99. The Nintendo Switch comes in three models, with the portable-only Lite version costing £199, the base version being available at £259, and the revised OLED model reaching £309.99.
In other news, a Denuvo spokesperson has claimed that the anti-piracy software’s integration on Nintendo Switch won’t affect game performance, despite it being an issue for several PC games.