Featured Image Credit: Sony
Topics: PlayStation 5, PlayStation, Sony, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, Microsoft
Topics: PlayStation 5, PlayStation, Sony, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, Microsoft
Alright folks, buckle up; because this morning we’re going to have to talk about politics.
That’s because, unfortunately, the price of PlayStation 5 media (and also, by extension, Xbox Series S/X media) could be set to increase later on this year - and it’s all because of newly implemented tariffs put in place by the Trump administration.
Ok, I’m going to do my best to give you a digestible, simple explanation as to why this is the case, but if you want all the details, I highly suggest reading Kyle Orland's write-up over on Ars Technica.
United States President Donald Trump previously announced 25 percent tariffs for several countries earlier this year, including Canada and Mexico. The good news is these have been delayed for the time being (as they were set to go into effect yesterday).
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The bad news is that, once they do into effect, several products that are manufactured and produced in Canada and Mexico are about to become a lot more expensive - and that includes video game discs.
“Reminder: 1. 20% China tariff impacts video game consoles, smartphones, GPUs, laptops etc,” stated user Daniel Ahmad over on Bluesky.
“2. 25% tariff on Mexico impacts physical video games. China is where most hardware continue to be manufactured, same for Mexico with discs.”
Well, that’s fine, right? We’ll all just start buying digital instead to save some money!
Yeah, unfortunately, if that were true we’d be paying less for digital media right now. Think about it - digital media already costs less to produce than physical media.
Sony and Microsoft match their physical and digital media prices on purpose already, so if the price of physical video games is going up, so are the prices of the digital ones.
So what would said price increase entail? Too early to say, but I’d wager it would be, at least, somewhere in the realm of a 10 dollar increase - at best.