It’s been a busy week for Sony with it looking at a £5 billion class action lawsuit for increased prices on games in the UK just before announcing a PlayStation 5 price hike.
The house that built the PlayStation 5 found itself in the crosshairs of UK residents after it has been learned that while they charge $69.99 for a brand new Sony published digital game over in North America, they charge the exact same NUMBER amount overseas in the UK. But while the numbers match, the value doesn’t, considering the pound sterling is worth approximately $1.18, leading to a $12 discrepancy. Looking at the following pictures obtained from Sony’s digital storefronts shows the difference.
The lawsuit was filed with London’s Competition Appeal Tribunal on Tuesday, and accused the publisher of imposing “unfair” conditions on developers who publish on their platform, which then leads to excessive pricing. Chief Executive of Resolver, Alex Neill leads the claim and states “The drive towards in-game purchases allows companies like Sony to profiteer and abuse their power because they have a captive audience,” and there is also a website dedicated to the lawsuit, which is confidently called playstationyouoweus.co.uk, which details more about the claim.
After looking around on the PS Store, mainly Sony published titles are affected like The Last of Us Part 1. When looking up Bandai Namco’s Elden Ring, the price is listed as £49.99, as compared to the $59.99 of North America. These prices are roughly the same. While the case is still pending, if certified, everyone who has purchased a digital title in the UK can be tangled in the claim. More info will be given in the coming months, and can likely be found on the ‘PlayStation you owe us’ website.
Sony PlayStation 5 Price Hike In Canada and Other Regions
That all being said, PlayStation blog today announced a price hike on the PS5 console, in basically every region it is sold in, including Canada, but excludes the United States. President & CEO, Sony Interactive Entertainment Jim Ryan states “Based on these challenging economic conditions, SIE has made the difficult decision to increase the recommended retail price (RRP) of PlayStation 5 in select markets across Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), Asia-Pacific (APAC), Latin America (LATAM), as well as Canada,” calling the price increase a “necessity.”
The new pricing for PS5’s are as follows according to the blog post:
- Europe
- PS5 with disc drive – €549.99
- PS5 Digital – €449.99
- UK
- PS5 with disc drive – £479.99
- PS5 Digital – £389.99
- Japan (effective Sept. 15, 2022)
- PS5 with disc drive – ¥60,478 yen (including tax)
- PS5 Digital – ¥49,478 yen (including tax)
- China
- PS5 with disc drive – ¥4,299 yuan
- PS5 Digital – ¥3,499 yuan
- Australia
- PS5 with drive – AUD $799.95
- PS5 Digital – AUD $649.95
- Mexico
- PS5 with disc drive – MXN $14,999
- PS5 Digital – MXN $12,499
- Canada
- PS5 with disc drive – CAD $649.99
- PS5 Digital – CAD $519.99
The pricing seems to go into effect immediately. Fans interested in the class action lawsuit can swing over to the lawsuit’s website, and fans can also see the full PlayStation blog post here.
