Sony Interactive Entertainment has warned that it will need to bump up the price of PlayStation consoles at retail if the United States government decides to issue higher tariffs on Chinese-manufactured game systems.
PlayStation Price Increase Warned By Sony
The U.S. and China are set to resume their talks this week with the hope of resolving their trade conflict. PlayStation console production is handled largely by contractors in China, and last month Sony spoke out against the increase in tariffs in a letter to the trade representative’s office alongside fellow format holders Microsoft and Nintendo.
“We believe, and therefore have told the U.S. government, that higher tariffs would ultimately damage the U.S. economy,” commented Sony’s CFO, Hiroki Totoki.
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened place the import tariff on an extra $300 billion of Chinese exports if the trade dispute cannot be settled. These include hardware such as PS4 and other video game consoles.
Totoki-san revealed that Sony has not yet made any decisions on how it intends to respond to the extra tariffs as it wasn’t aware they would be imposed. However, some options have been considered, including asking consumers to bear some of the burden.
He added that tariffs so far “haven’t affected us that much, but we should remain vigilant about the potential risk.”
Sony announced today that the PS4 has shipped over 100 million units worldwide, making it the fastest console to reach the milestone. However, the hardware giant also cut its forecast for the number of consoles it expects to sell for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2020.
The PS4 launched in the US and UK in November 2013, although Sony is now focusing on its new system, the PS5, which is rumoured to launch in holiday 2020.
Just this week, we’ve heard chatter on a new IP from Naughty Dog for the next-generation system.
Source: WSJ