California governor Gavin Newsom has reacted to the PlayStation 5 price hike in the US, jokingly thanking US President Donald Trump for making it happen via his controversial tariff strategy.
Re-sharing a news story about the PS5 price hike, Newsom, a Democrat, posted on social media, “Great work, Donald Trump!!”
On August 20, Sony announced a price hike for the PS5 in the US, with all models of the console going up by $50 effective today, August 21. PS5 accessories, however, will hold their prices. With the price hike now in effect, the cheapest PS5 model is $500. The PS5 Pro, meanwhile, now costs $750.
Analyst Daniel Ahmad said Sony is raising prices against the backdrop of higher tariff rates on countries where the PS5 is produced, including China (30%), Japan (15%), Vietnam (20%), and Malaysia (19%).
Before this, Microsoft announced price hikes for its Xbox consoles. Nintendo, meanwhile, has said it cannot rule out raising the price of the Switch 2 due to tariffs, while an analyst has predicted a Switch 2 price hike in 2026.
On August 1, US President Donald Trump announced new tariffs that led to some market turmoil. This followed on from the initial “Liberation Day” tariffs that were announced back in April.
Trump is pushing these new tariffs in part to encourage US companies to build more products in the US, but the likelihood of Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo shifting production to the US for their consoles is minimal. Trump is currently facing multiple lawsuits that allege he does not have the authority to impose tariffs on other countries in this manner.
Trump also pushed new tariffs during his first presidency, but video game companies successfully lobbied the government to give video game consoles an exception. That didn’t happen this time, however.
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