Throughout Tuesday’s Japan-focused State of Play, Sony introduced a brand new, cheaper Japanese-language-only PlayStation 5 Digital Version console that shall be accessible completely in Japan. It’s possible a response to tariffs in the USA, inflation in Japan, and Nintendo’s personal cheaper Japan-only Change 2.
On November 11, on the very finish of PlayStation’s newest State of Play broadcast, Sony Interactive Leisure CEO Hideaki Nishino introduced “something very special” for players in Japan: A Japanese-language-only PS5 console that can value ¥55,000 yen, which is roughly $350 USD. That very same console, following a price increase earlier this year, now prices $500 in the USA. Presently, the digital-only PS5 in Japan prices roughly ¥73,000. So should you dwell in Japan and know the language, it can save you fairly a bit of cash shopping for this cheaper, Japanese-only version of the PS5, which goes on sale on November 21.
As to why Sony is releasing a less expensive, Japan-only PS5, there are a number of components. One of many large ones, as reported by the Financial Times, is rising inflation and the yen losing value in Sony’s dwelling nation. And since, as Dr. Serkan Toto, CEO of Tokyo-based sport business consultancy Kantan Video games told VGC, many players in Japan don’t care about their consoles being region-locked or restricted to Japanese solely, this can be a approach for Sony to supply a less expensive console to certainly one of its key markets.
It additionally makes it tougher for resellers and other people outdoors of Japan to grab up PS5 consoles at a less expensive value, an element that led to Nintendo providing its very personal Japan-only Switch 2 console earlier this year.
And yeah, that’s one other possible cause for a Japan-only PS5: The Switch 2 is doing very well in the country, and the OG Change is holding its personal, too. Sony’s dear PS5 is probably going an excessive amount of for customers in Japan who’re battling inflation. A less expensive, region-locked PS5 that may’t be simply resold on the gray market might be an enormous hit in Japan and assist Sony regain some floor. It additionally marks Sony’s first region-locked console because the PlayStation 2.
In fact, another think about all of that is the continuing tariffs enacted by President Donald Trump. These tariffs led to Sony elevating the worth of all PS5 consoles in the USA earlier this 12 months, and a Japan-only PS5 can assist the corporate give attention to its native market with out having to pay excessive tariffs or cope with outdoors patrons. Who had “Region-Locked Consoles Return In 2025” on their horrible bingo card?
