PlayStation consoles might get more expensive for shoppers in the United States. During an earnings call today, Sony's chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki said it will need to increase the price of PlayStation consoles sold in America if President Trump's proposed tariffs on electronics made in China--including game consoles--do indeed go through.
According to The Wall Street Journal, "most" of the components of PlayStation consoles are made in China. "We believe, and therefore have told the U.S. government, that higher tariffs would ultimately damage the U.S. economy," Totoki said.
Earlier this year Trump announced a plan to increase tariffs from 10 percent to 25 percent on electronics made in China and shipped to the United States. These export tariffs are not finalized as of yet, and the US and China are coming back to the negotiation table this week.
This new comment from Totoki comes after Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo jointly released a statement opposing Trump's tariffs. A 25 percent price increase in consoles to match the tariff cost would "likely put a new video game console out of reach for many American families who we expect to be in the market for a console this holiday season," the companies said in their letter.
Nintendo is already reportedly preparing itself for the tariffs by moving manufacturing out of China for the new Switch consoles, including the Switch Lite.
Microsoft, too, is working on a new console--Project Scarlett. Xbox boss Phil Spencer has said the price of that console may depend on what happens with the tariffs.
Going back to Sony, the company announced that the PS4 shipped a further 3.2 million consoles in the April-June period, bringing the total number of PS4 shipments to 100 million. Sony is predicting a downturn in PS4 sales for the current fiscal year. It originally projected shipments of 16 million for the fiscal year ending March 2020, but now the company said it expects to ship 15 million.
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