Days of Play has been a really positive sales window for PS5 in the past, coming right in the middle of the year, and giving Sony’s consoles a boost before Black Friday and Christmas.
This year, while I anticipate there will be a decent amount of software sold through the PS Store, there’ll be no console deals at all.
Of course, this was expected after the Japanese giant bumped the price of its platforms in April. It costs more than it ever has to buy a PS5 right now, almost six years into the system’s lifespan.
Last year during Days of Play, you could get a PS5 Digital Edition for $399.99/£339.99/€399.99. This year, the exact same console will cost you $599.99/£519.99/€599.99, which is an insane swing.
Similarly, the PS5 Pro got its first price drop during last year’s Days of Play, dropping to $649.99/£649.99/€749.99. This year, it’ll cost $899.99/£789.99/€899.99.
While Sony has confirmed savings on the PSVR2 headset and DualSense controllers, there’ll be no deals for the PS Portal handheld either.
All of this is as expected, and to be fair, PlayStation is butting its ahead against some pretty profound economic conditions, like tariffs and soaring component costs. A lot of this is out of its control.
But it’s all rather depressing to see.
Days of Play has historically been an energising period for the brand, and it’s generally represented a great time to pick up new hardware.
As console gaming gets more and more expensive, though, those days look like they’re long behind us.
I don’t know when things are going to get better, but I do know this year’s Days of Play looks like a pale imitation of years past.
