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The
company raised prices similarly for other regions, including the
United Kingdom, Europe and Japan.
Global trade has been upended by U.S. tariffs imposed on all of
the nation's trading partners and Sony bumped up the price for
the PlayStation by $50 just last August. The war in Iran, now it
its fourth week, has created a massive bottleneck of energy and
manufacturing supplies, creating more price pressures for
everyday goods, including electronics.
By the end of next week, the cost of a Sony PlayStation will be
about 30% more than it was at this time last year.
“We know that price changes impact our community, and after
careful evaluation, we found this was a necessary step to ensure
we can continue delivering innovative, high-quality gaming
experiences to players worldwide,” Sony said in a blog post on
its website.
Though Sony did not specifically cite it as a cause, Iran's
attack last week on Qatar's natural gas export facility forced
it to shut down, threatening supplies of helium, a key
ingredient used to produce computer chips. Qatar supplies a
third of the world’s helium, according to the U.S. Geological
Survey.
Qatar’s state-owned gas company said last week the shutdown
would slash helium exports by 14%. Lower supply means higher
prices, especially if the war drags on for months or longer,
analysts said.
While most people know of helium as the gas that makes party
balloons float, it is also essential for manufacturing
semiconductors used in computers and an array of other tech
devices.
Last month, Sony reported that its profit in the
October-December quarter surged 11% to 377.3 billion yen ($2.4
billion), prompting the Japanese entertainment and electronics
company to raise its full-year profit forecast to 1.13 trillion
yen ($7.2 billion).
The PlayStation console celebrated its 30th anniversary in North
America and Europe last year.
Rival Microsoft raised prices for some versions of its Xbox
gaming console in September — long before the Iran war broke out
— citing “changes in the macroeconomic environment.”
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