From $399 to $599, your PS5 is paying taxes on AI and war.

Author: David, Deep Tide TechFlow

On March 27, Sony announced a price increase for all PS5 models, effective April 2.

In the US market, the PS5 disc version increased from $549 to $649, the digital version from $499 to $599, and the PS5 Pro from $749 to $899.

This is the second time in a year. The last time was last August, when the price only increased by $50 in the US, and Sony deliberately protected this largest market. This time, the price starts at $100, with the PS5 Pro increasing by $150, and it's happening globally simultaneously, with no market exempted.

The pressure to raise prices has become so great that Sony is unwilling to absorb the losses itself.

Gamers know that there's a golden rule in the console industry: consoles will only get cheaper over time. Component costs decrease over time, and manufacturers recoup their initial R&D costs through improved profits in later stages.

The PS5 was the first console in history to break this pattern. Released in 2020, the digital version cost $399. Six years later, the same machine cost $599.

Sony's official explanation is six words: "Global economic pressure".

AI tax

Sony didn't offer much explanation. But multiple analysts pointed to the same thing: memory chips.

The PS5 contains RAM and a custom SSD, both of which require DRAM and NAND flash memory chips. The prices of these two components will surge starting in mid-2025, and the reason has nothing to do with the gaming industry: the construction of global AI data centers has taken away RAM production capacity, squeezing out the share available to consumer electronics.

The memory used in your game console and the AI ​​comes from the same production line. The AI ​​can afford a higher price, but you can't.

Piers Harding-Rolls, research director at gaming research firm Ampere Analysis, told CNBC that Sony likely had previously signed price protection agreements with suppliers, locking in procurement costs for a period of time. However, after the agreements expired, memory prices showed no signs of easing, forcing Sony to pass on the costs to consumers.

According to Fox Business, Sony also acknowledged in its earnings call in February that the company is facing pressure from rising memory costs and plans to offset hardware losses through revenue from software and network services.

To translate for Sony: Hardware is no longer profitable, and is even losing money. Sony plans to make up for it by selling games and memberships.

This is the first blow. The extra money you paid wasn't because the game console got better, but because AI stole your memory.

Missile bombings drive up aluminum prices

The memory price hikes were painful enough. Then the missiles arrived.

On March 28, the day after Sony announced its price increase, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard launched several missiles into the UAE and Bahrain. They weren't targeting military bases, but rather aluminum plants.

Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) is the largest aluminum producer in the Middle East. According to its website, one out of every 25 tons of aluminum produced globally comes from its plant. Bahrain Aluminium (Alba) has an annual production capacity of 1.62 million tons. Together, these two companies account for 6% of global aluminum production capacity.

According to EGA's official website, the company's products are sold to more than 60 countries and over 400 customers across various industries.

Hours after the missile strike, aluminum prices on the London Metal Exchange jumped. According to the Securities Times, overseas spot aluminum premiums surged to their highest level in 19 years. Bahrain Aluminium subsequently declared force majeure and suspended deliveries to some customers.

Citigroup analysts predict that if supply continues to worsen, aluminum prices could rise from the current level of around $3,300 to $4,000 per ton.

The PS5's cooling module, chassis structural components, and electromagnetic shielding layer all require aluminum alloy. The memory was already cut, and now aluminum has been cut again.

Moreover, the bombing of these two aluminum plants was not accidental.

The Revolutionary Guard said in a statement that the two factories are "related to the U.S. military and aerospace industry." Last May, RTX, the U.S. aerospace giant that manufactures Patriot missiles and F-35 radar systems, signed a memorandum of understanding with Emirates Global Aluminium to develop a production line for extracting gallium, a core material for military radar, at its factory in Abu Dhabi.

According to RTX's official press release, Paolo Dal Cin, the company's senior vice president of operations and supply chain, said at the signing ceremony that the agreement was to secure the supply of critical minerals for the aerospace and defense industries.

Iran is targeting the supply chain of the US military industry.

But if you bomb a military base, the losses are borne by a country's defense ministry. If you bomb an aluminum plant, the bill is split worldwide, affecting everything from airplanes and cars to cell phones and your PS5.

The Revolutionary Guard's statement also included the line: future retaliation will no longer be limited to reciprocal military responses, but will instead deliver a "more lethal blow" to the enemy's economic system.

According to Sina Finance, Saudi Arabia's largest chemical company, SABIC, announced last month that its styrene and methanol production had encountered force majeure.

From aluminum to chemical raw materials, "force majeure" is spreading in the Middle East.

Paying for global change

The $200 increase in the PS5 price actually hides a third cut, but that cut was already made last year.

In August 2025, Sony raised prices in the US by $50 for the first time. This was against the backdrop of the US imposing tariffs on its global trading partners, increasing the import costs of electronic products. The PS5 was designed in Japan, but its components were manufactured and assembled in multiple Asian countries, with tariffs affecting every step of the process.

Tariffs, AI taking over production capacity, missiles bombing aluminum plants.

Three accounts, three completely different sources. One from Washington, one from Silicon Valley, and one from the Middle East. From $399 to $599, each increase was not due to an improvement in the game console itself.

You just wanted to buy a game console. But your price tag included a share of America's trade policy, a share of the AI ​​companies' arms race, and a share of the wars in the Middle East.

And the PS5 is probably the most honest one.

Sony has issued a statement, clearly indicating how much the price has increased. But aluminum isn't just used in game consoles, and memory isn't only used in the PS5. Your phone, your laptop, and your electric scooter all use the same aluminum and the same chips.

Traditionally, where does the money for war come from? Governments levy taxes or print money. During World War II, the US issued war bonds; during the Korean War, Truman raised taxes. You know you're paying money, and you know where the money goes.

When these products quietly raise prices again, there might not be any announcements.

In 2020, if you spend $399 to buy a PS5, you're paying for a game console. In 2026, if you spend $599 to buy the same PS5, the extra $200 isn't for better performance.

Ultimately, we will all have to pay the price for what has happened to this world over the past six years.