Sony plans to counter rising PS5 memory costs by increasing revenue from existing users, which could lead to higher PS Plus prices

The tech industry is currently dealing with a serious memory crisis. Demand from AI data centers has skyrocketed, and most of the global supply of RAM and storage is now going toward those large-scale operations. As a result, prices of RAM, SSDs, and even GPUs have increased significantly over the past few months.

Sony is not immune to this situation. Reports recently suggested that the company may push the release of the PS6 to 2028 or 2029 instead of 2027, mainly due to rising memory and component costs. While that affects long-term plans, Sony is also thinking about how to manage the pressure right now with the PS5.

During the company’s earnings call earlier this month, CFO Lin Tao claimed that Sony has secured enough memory supply to keep PS5 pricing stable throughout 2026. The company also plans to continue negotiating with suppliers to ensure it can meet customer demand.

However, the rising memory costs will eventually put pressure on the business. And to deal with that, Sony plans to monetize the "installed base." In simple terms, this means generating more revenue from existing PlayStation users rather than relying only on hardware sales. The company also plans to further expand its software and network service revenue, which includes digital game sales, add-ons, subscriptions, and other online services.

Given the stage of our console cycle, our hardware sales strategy can be adjusted flexibly, and we intend to minimize the impact of the increased memory costs on this segment going forward by prioritizing monetization of the installed base to date and striving to further expand our software and network services revenue.

If Sony fully executes this strategy, players could feel the impact in different ways. Game prices could increase over time, and big discounts during sales events might become less common. On top of that, the PlayStation Plus subscription could see a price hike, especially for the Premium and Extra tiers.