Sony was the first to bite the bullet and start selling the PlayStation 5 for a higher price last year. And, while this hasn’t had a negative impact on sales – on the contrary, the PS5 has sold more units than ever after the price hike – it appears that Sony is cutting the price of the incumbent PS5 model, albeit only temporarily.
At the moment, the standard PS5 model costs $499.99 in the United States, £479.99 in the United Kingdom, and €549.99 in Germany. However, if the price cut leak is correct, Sony’s flagship console will be available for a massive $50 discount in the United States (€75 and £75 in Germany and the United Kingdom, respectively).
Even if this leak isn’t confirmed yet, the source, Billbill-Kun, who is always getting the jump on Sony and its new PlayStation Plus lineup announcements, is as legitimate as they come.
👀#PS5
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🇺🇸 🇬🇧 🇩🇪
⌛️#PlayStation #PlayStation5— billbil-kun (@billbil_kun) July 21, 2023
The question of whether these price cuts would apply to the all-digital PS5 model or the other bundles remains hanging in the balance. Interestingly, Sony had offered a temporary price cut on the PS5 God of War Ragnarok bundle earlier in the year, providing a precedent for such a move.
The news about the price reduction emerges almost a year after Sony raised PS5 prices in response to the global economic conditions. The US remained unaffected by this price increase, just like in the case of the recent price surge for the Xbox Series X in some parts of the world.
Ultimately, it’s interesting that the imminent PS5 price drop aligns with Sony’s plans to release a PlayStation 5 Slim. Despite the lack of information from Sony itself, its chief rival, Microsoft, insists that the PS5 Slim exists and is coming out later this year. After this “accidental” reveal, the floodgates opened and now, we’re expecting a showcase of sorts where Sony will be confirming the inbound disc-less redesigned model, among other announcements. It’s important to note that the PS5 Slim would reportedly replace the existing disc-based model, which is why it makes a ton of sense for Sony to want to clear out its inventory of older and bulkier SKUs.
According to multiple users across social media, this supposed sale has already begun in other areas, specifically, countries like the Netherlands and Australia, among others.
You got to hand it to Sony for having a knack for stealing the spotlight from right under their competition’s noses.
Starfield, Xbox’s biggest exclusive to date, is coming out on September 6, with a select few users getting early access in late August. If we believe the rumors, Sony will open the PS5 Slim for pre-order next month and start shipping the console a week after, similar to what happened with the slim versions of the older PlayStation consoles.
But, if the PS5 Slim does come out in August or September, then it would be quite odd to reveal the new custom-themed Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 PS5 console in such close proximity. Unless, of course, Sony had already accounted for this. Besides, it’s possible that the phasing out of the older PS5 models will make the rare themed PS5 console harder to come by.
In any case, with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 coming out on October 20, Sony will hit two birds with one stone by making back-to-back massive announcements to try and bury Starfield.
It also works in Sony’s favor that Starfiels is currently dealing with a handful of controversies, including the cancelations of pre-orders and the oversold PC requirements.
