PS5 price increases hit UK, EU, Aus & NZ, but at least the disc drive is getting cheaper

The PlayStation 5 is getting more expensive again in Europe, the UK, Australia and New Zealand, Sony has announced. In all of these regions the digital edition PS5 is jumping up in price, while Aus & NZ are also seeing the PS5 with disc drive also get more expensive. PS5 Pro pricing is unaffected, though, and the standalone disc drive is getting cheaper.

Here’s the new console pricing which is coming into effect today.

That’s a €50 price increase in Europe and £40 in the UK, when compared to the PS5 Slim’s launch back in 2023 – the console maintained the RRP from the late 2022 price hikes at that time.

Sony notes that there is “a backdrop of a challenging economic environment, including high inflation and fluctuating exchange rates” as justification for making the price increases. That makes it sound like this is a separate decision and unrelated to the recently imposed Trump tariffs in the US. That has sent shockwaves of uncertainty through markets, but making pricing adjustments outside of tariffs-related changes in the US will likely have been a longer term decision from Sony.

Or perhaps Sony wasn’t wanting to be left out of the “Switch 2 is too expensive” conversation and decided to get themselves a piece of the action

As a counterweight, the standalone Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive is getting cheaper, with price cuts of €50 and £30 respectively. That will still make buying a disc drive PS5 most cost effective in the EU and UK – €30 / £20 better value, respectively – but is mainly a boon to PS5 Pro buyers who might want to grab an optical drive.

Here’s the new PS5 optical drive pricing.

Source: PS Blog