Video game consoles are somehow spared from inflation in Japan

This picture taken on June 28, 2022 shows a poster notifying shoppers of out of stock video game consoles, including Sony PlayStation 5 models, at a store in Tokyo. The latest generation of consoles, Sony’s PS5 and Microsoft’s Xbox Series, have been in tight supply globally since their launch in late 2020, owing to Covid-19 disruptions to the electronics supply chain and global shipping. — AFP

The weaker yen has triggered price hikes on electronics from iPhones to refrigerators across Japan this year, with one glaring exception: the video game console.

Sony Group Corp, Microsoft Corp and Nintendo Co have held fast to a 100-yen-to-the-dollar conversion rate that today sees their consoles as much as US$100 (RM445) cheaper in Japan than elsewhere in the world. No company wants to be first to break the unwritten rule against raising prices after a console’s release, for fear of losing players and game developers to rivals, and all three believe they can recoup any losses through international software sales. But that may be changing.