{"id":620800,"date":"2026-06-04T13:13:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T13:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/620800\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T13:13:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T13:13:10","slug":"ps5-price-hike-has-flushed-uk-hardware-sales-down-the-toilet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/620800\/","title":{"rendered":"PS5 Price Hike Has Flushed UK Hardware Sales Down the Toilet"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PS5<\/a> Image: Push Square<\/p>\n

Sony\u2019s been fighting fires all generation<\/a>, from pandemic-induced supply shortages through to tariffs. But its latest PS5 price hike, powered by rising component costs, may be a headache it just can\u2019t overcome.<\/p>\n

The Games Business<\/a> journalist Chris Dring reports that sales of Sony\u2019s console fell by 50% in the UK in May, meaning it could only manage to outsell Xbox Series X|S by a 400 measly units. Switch 2 outperformed both without breaking a sweat.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth noting that Microsoft\u2019s machine saw sales rise by 12% on the back of Forza Horizon 6\u2019s<\/a> anticipated release. In addition, Dring notes that sales of the PS5 may have been brought forward by the price hike; in other words, consumers likely rushed to get the console before it went up.<\/p>\n

In the UK, PS5 sales fell 50% in May. It only outsold Xbox Series S\/X by 400 units (which saw a 12% rise, helped by console exclusive Forza Horizon 6). Switch 2 was easily No.1 (NielsenIQ). There will be more in today’s The Game Business Show\/Newsletter https:\/\/t.co\/BVxmMuHZBh<\/a>\u2014 Christopher Dring (@Chris_Dring) June 4, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

But I imagine it\u2019s going to be a really difficult year for Sony, as it limps towards the 100 million units milestone.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, like the platform holder has said, it\u2019s going to focus on upselling its existing install base \u2013 that\u2019s why you\u2019re seeing so many accessories, like the FlexStrike arcade stick<\/a> and new 27\u201d PlayStation monitor<\/a>. It\u2019s also trying to push players towards<\/a> 12-month PS Plus<\/a> subscriptions.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s hard to feel sympathy for any billion dollar corporation, I do think Sony\u2019s been dealt a bad hand this generation. Who knows where the PS5 could be without coronavirus, tariffs, and global economy crashes? At the end of the day, it\u2019s just going to have navigate this as best it can.<\/p>\n

\"Sammy<\/p>\n

As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He\u2019s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Image: Push Square Sony\u2019s been fighting fires all generation, from pandemic-induced supply shortages through to tariffs. But its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620801,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[59,873,112,3965,86,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-620800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-gb","tag-hardware","tag-ps5","tag-sales","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}