Why Your Console Costs More Now Than It Did on Launch Day
A PS5 that cost ₱27,990 in 2020 now costs ₱40,032. Nothing inside the box changed. What changed is the peso, the shipping bill, and whatever pricing math Sony ran in Tokyo this year.
Sony Actually Told Everyone Why
Most console price hikes here happen quietly, buried in retailer markups and shrinking bundles. Sony just came out and said it. The PS5 launched in 2020 at ₱27,990, crept to ₱30,790 by 2022, then jumped to ₱40,032 on May 1, 2026, part of a Southeast Asia-wide price adjustment the company announced itself (source: GamingPH.com).
The PS5 Pro skipped an official local price entirely. Get one here and you’re buying gray-market, usually around ₱56,950, with no warranty and nobody at Sony to call if it dies.
Nintendo Never Bothered With the Cheap Phase
Consoles usually get cheaper a year or two in. The Switch 2 came in already priced above where a base PS5 started in 2020, ₱31,990 for the console alone, ₱35,500 with Mario Kart World bundled in (source: OneMoreGame.ph).
Xbox Did the Opposite
Microsoft doesn’t sell Xbox hardware here directly, so Series X and Series S come in through parallel imports, wherever the margin works out best for the retailer. Which, weirdly, means Xbox is the one console actually getting cheaper. The Series S opened at ₱19,995 and now runs about ₱15,950. The Series X spiked to roughly ₱36,000 during an early supply shortage and has settled back to around ₱25,795.
The Peso Is the Real Story Here
None of this is really about Sony, Nintendo, or Microsoft. Inflation hit 7.2 percent in April 2026, well above target, and the peso slipped past ₱61 to the dollar. Consoles are fully imported, so they eat that exchange rate before they ever hit a shelf.
Before comparing a Philippine price to a US or Japan one, check whether the console is even sold here officially first. That gray-market discount usually isn’t one.
