Sony Says Price Hikes For The PlayStation 5 Are On The Table Because of Donald Trump’s Stupid Tariffs

Sony announced its financial forecast for the next year, and the company expects Donald Trump’s tariffs to impact its bottom line greatly.

Spotted on The Verge, Sony expects Trump’s stupid tariffs to impact its financial forecast by 100 billion yen (about $680 million). Sony is weighing different options to counter the tariffs, including moving manufacturing to the United States, which could raise the price of PS5 consoles.

Sony CFO Lin Tao confirmed during a company earnings call that the company is considering “passing on” the price of tariffs to counteract the tariffs. Tao did not mention the PlayStation 5 by name during the call, signaling that the company could look to raise prices elsewhere to avoid raising the price of the PS5 console.

The PlayStation 5 has already seen price increases outside of the United States in Australia, the UK, New Zealand, and Europe.

While Tao didn’t mention the console, CEO Hiroki Totoki did when discussing possibly moving PS5 production to the US to minimize the effect of Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Totokoi said the PS5 console could be manufactured “can be produced locally,” say it could be “an efficient strategy,”  that “has to be considered going forward.”

Sony Still Has To Worry About The 30 Percent Tariff On China

Sony still makes the PS5 in China, and even after the 90-day pause, the 30 percent tariff, which is a significant reduction from the 145 percent, is still above the 10 percent on imports into the United States from China.

If Sony does decide to raise its prices, it won’t be the first company to do so. Microsoft recently raised the price of its Xbox consoles by $100, while Nintendo has kept the price of the Switch 2 the same, opting to raise the prices of accessories instead. 

We may learn soon enough if Sony does raise the price of the PS5. Until then, you can see reactions to this unfortunate news that we can all blame on Donald Trump.