PlayStation 5 price increase leaves gamers livid

Bad news, PlayStation fans - certain games have suddenly got way more expensive in a number of countries, and no one is quite sure why.

As VGC reports, this new series of price hikes was first spotted over on ResetEra by user Chairmanchuck, who noticed that on Steam, prices for the PC ports of Returnal and Sackboy: A Big Adventure have increased significantly in Argentina, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Japan, and South Korea. VGC notes that God of War (2018) and Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered have gotten pricier, too.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is releasing later this year exclusively on PS5. Take a look at the trailer below.

Every country listed seems to have been affected differently - VGC says that in Japan, for example, the price increases vary between around 29% and 32.5%. In Canada, it’s a fair bit less - the increases there seem to be around 14.5% and 17%, with games costing $10 more than usual.

However, gamers in Argentina have been hit seriously hard. The cost of both Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered and God of War (2018) has doubled (the latter apparently went from 4,199 pesos to 8,499 pesos). Meanwhile, the costs of Returnal and Sackboy: A Big Adventure have increased by 67%, which is also massive.

It’s worth noting that these changes have seemingly only come into effect on Steam - in the ResetEra post, users noted that the prices on the PlayStation Store haven’t altered. Why this has happened is another matter - Sony hasn’t addressed the situation at the time of writing.

The good news is that for for anyone wanting to play Sackboy: A Big Adventure, the game is currently being offered as one of the monthly Essential-tier freebies on PlayStation Plus. If you have a subscription, you can claim it now and play it at any time you want, totally free (so long as you have a PS Plus subscription).

It remains to be seen if these price increases get rolled out more broadly worldwide.