Recently, Sony responded to the continued rise in component costs, saying that the company has no intention of selling hardware at a loss and will continue to monitor market conditions. During a recent Q&A session on Sony's performance, some participants asked Sony executives questions, hoping to understand the brand's latest considerations on hardware pricing and profitability.
The participant asked the executive: "According to the current pricing philosophy of prioritizing hardware to ensure profitability, can we think that the pricing of next-generation products will continue this core principle?" The official reply stated that Sony regards hardware as one of the core carriers of gaming experience and hopes to allow consumers to truly perceive the value of its own hardware products. In principle, we do not plan to sell hardware at a loss price, but we are currently paying close attention to the market situation.
Sony officials said: “First of all, hardware is the basis for carrying gaming experience. We launched PlayStation Products such as Portal are designed to break out of the traditional main usage scenario of the living room and create exclusive experiences for players that are suitable for various gaming scenarios. As for pricing, we cannot bear the cost pressure caused by the price increase of all components alone. We have already raised the prices of many hardware products in markets outside Japan. Product sales at this stage are still in line with expectations, and there has been no decline in consumer demand. In principle, we will never sell hardware at a significant loss. At the same time, we will carefully monitor market trends and continue to adjust our pricing strategies. We believe that the most important thing is to do our best to ensure that consumers recognize the actual value of the product pricing.”
Currently, memory and storage chips continue to be in short supply, and the cost of related components has skyrocketed. Not only Sony, but also companies such as Microsoft, Nintendo, and Apple have raised the prices of hardware products. Last week, Microsoft raised the price of its Xbox console again, and the final price of Valve's Steam Machine was also much higher than originally planned.
Previously, Sony President Totoki Hiroki revealed that the company has not yet finalized the PS6 release time and initial pricing. He said: "We have not yet finalized the launch node and sale pricing of the new generation of consoles, so we will continue to wait and see and follow up on market changes. Based on the current industry status, there will still be a supply gap for memory chips in fiscal year 2027, and prices are expected to remain high. Based on this prediction, we must carefully plan the follow-up plan." He also mentioned that the number of active users in the PlayStation ecosystem continues to grow and market demand has not shrunk. This also means that Sony has enough time to polish the overall business strategy for the next generation of consoles.