A little bad news for PlayStation fans: Some juicy tidbits were thrown out by Sony’s CFO Lin Tao about the potential changes to SIE under which one of those is most certainly going to increase your bills. The main takeaway for me is that Sony is now on that trajectory wherein their concern is no longer consoles but player engagement-or oh, maybe it is another big price increase for the PS5.
The small print: For some time, what had occupied Sony were the “sell-in units,” meaning as many consoles as possible had to be put into stores for sales. That was the old world, but now they actually stand for “engagement” and “MAU” (Monthly Active Users). Why? Because that is where all the actual money lies. The longer the players stay, the more they buy games, DLC, and subscriptions. Now with tariffs that may cause rise in production cost, Sony’s CFO frankly admitted that a further price hike for the PS5 could very well be in the cards.
This is more of a “Past tense” statement, unlike anything new for you. They actually raised the PS5 price in several regions last year due to inflation and economic conditions. Doing it again? Man, that’s gonna hurt considering Xbox seems to have stood still on prices since.
And of course, the internet had a few words to share. Some fans insinuated that Sony was really just copying in an obvious way what Xbox has essentially built for years upon MAU and GamePass numbers. Whereas some were more unrestrained: Twitter user @Priapismos mocked the PlayStation fanbase: “MAU which drives profitability 🤣 but ponies have been saying to look into sales charts.” So embarrassing.
Now onto the debate on what MAU means. Xbox fans almost immediately pointed out how Microsoft’s MAU count encompasses peeps on mobile platforms (shoutout to Candy Crush players), whereas Sony’s algorithm seems to lean a tad more on actual console and PC engagement. But hey, it’s business; if Sony finds a way to milk its players for another buck or two, they will for sure try.
And of course, with this pure definition of what really counts, the shift in focus might spell the end to all things PlayStation for the near future: Live service games, PC ports, and remasters (looking at you Days Gone 2 hopeful!). Whatever it is, Sony is basically saying now that they don’t just sell boxes anymore. Now it’s about getting people to play — and spend — and, well, stay around.
So that price move? Well, for those who have even thought about it for a moment, the decision to pull out one’s wallet and buy that PS5 could not have come soon enough.
There’s always the memes: “Welcome to the party ponies, you’ve been asleep long enough,” @artnkicks teased. Meaning that Sony is definitely awake now—and that might hurt the wallet.
So, PlayStation fans, fasten your seat belts. The journey is about to get bumpy. And costly. Mostly costly.
