“Concord might have pushed PS5 price,” suggests a preposterous statement I read in an article that has been making rounds online. The article then devolves into regurgitating theories from trolls, with zero factual statements. It’s true that Concord is an utter disaster, but to suggest that a price hike in Japan is somehow the direct result of a game that released less than a week ago is both hilarious and absurd.
PS5 price hike in Japan has nothing to do with Concord, contrary to fanboy belief
It’ll be no surprise if Concord, which was in development for eight years, ends up making a loss to the tune of millions. But a price hike announced less than a week after the game’s launch in one specific location has zilch to do with it.
Price hikes are not decided on a whim overnight because of the failure of one game, nor has Sony fully calculated the “loss” Concord made in seven days to then attempt to recover the amount via a price increase. That is not how business decisions are made nor how businesses work.
It’s no secret that the yen has significantly weakened against the dollar, explaining Japan’s third PS5 price increase. Players should expect Nintendo Switch’s successor to be pricier as well.
As Niko Partners’ Daniel Ahmad points out, Sony is also possibly attempting to crack down on Japanese PS5 consoles being sold in black markets in other countries, like China. I don’t live in Japan, but I can confirm that I have seen Japanese PS5 consoles on my end, too. In fact, I managed to snag a PS5 while Japan and the West were struggling with inventory, and Sony has no official presence where I currently live.
The idea is to make Japanese consoles less attractive to pick up given their hefty price tags, but this is certainly not the main or sole reason for a price increase. Again, economic factors have to be taken into consideration.
Concord may be in the doldrums, but so is rational thinking in the gaming community.
