There used to be a decades-old rule that, the longer a console was on sale, the cheaper it would get. That rule is now clearly dead in the water.
Sony's PlayStation 5 launched in Australia for AUD$750 (for the disc drive version) back in 2020. That was a lot of money at the time, but it was a new console, whatever, lots of folks probably figured if they waited a few years they'd be able to snag one for less. But then, in 2022, the price of a PS5 in Australia went up to AUD$800 (it also went up in Japan, Europe, China and Canada as well).
OK, so maybe if you waited another couple of years it would go down then and...ah, no. Sony just sent out a press release saying that on April 14 the price is going up again to AUD$830, with the company blaming "a challenging economic environment, including high inflation and fluctuating exchange rates". The increases affect the digital edition of the console in Europe and the UK, and both editions in Australia and New Zealand:
Meanwhile the price of the standalone disc drive accessory is going down in all four markets--as an example, it was AUD$160 here and will go down to AUD$125--though that'll affect a lot less people than the sticker price of the console itself going upwards.
