Sony would be preparing a move destined to discuss: reduce the storage space of the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition sold in Europe, while maintaining the list price unchanged. A choice that reflects global economic pressure and the difficulties of the console market, increasingly forced to find new balances to remain sustainable.
According to the information of the well-known Insider Billbil-Kun, the new PS5 Digital Edition units that will arrive from 13 September will include only 825GB of SSD, against the Terabyte of the versions currently on the market.
Despite the cut, the price will remain set at 499 euros, with the reduction that at the moment should only concern the digital model distributed in Europe. The standard version with optical reader would instead maintain internal storage terabyte.
The context makes the choice particularly significant. The European PS5 Digital Edition has already undergone two price increases in five years, reaching 100 euros more than the launch. An anomaly in a sector where prices usually tend to fall with the advance of the vital cycle of the console.
Even in the United States Sony has applied increases, but the strategy of cutting to storage seems to be, at least for now, an experiment reserved for the European market.
The decision puts consumers in difficulty: with games that regularly exceed 100GB, the 175GBs weigh significantly on the management of the digital library. Users will then be pushed to delete and reinstall the most frequently frequently or to invest in external storage solutions, increasing the overall cost of the console.
Sony is not the only one to travel this path. Nintendo has recently announced price increases (only for the USA) throughout the Switch line: +40 dollars for the basic model, +50 for OLED and +30 for the dispute. These moves reflect pressure that go beyond individual companies, from international commercial policies to the instability of global markets.
If Sony’s strategy should prove effective, it cannot be excluded that similar solutions can also be replicated in other markets or products, setting an important precedent for the entire videogame sector.