Something’s happening behind the PlayStation Store’s front. Earlier this month, we learned that Sony appears to be testing “dynamic pricing” for users in some territories. This could affect both first-party and third-party games, offering players different prices depending on their habits, location, and more. Now, just weeks after Sony’s tests were spotted, it appears the dynamic pricing system is in being rolled out to users around the world.
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Insider Gaming claimed to have spotted “first-hand examples” of “wildly different prices” being offered to different customers on 25th March. The site then provided two screenshots which show Stellar Blade being sold in the same region at $39.89 and $20.99 at the same time (with the original price tag being $69.99). That’s quite the wide gap between “dynamic discounts” and could easily lead to people having (justified) complaints over paying almost $20 more for the same product during the same time period.
At the time of writing, PlayStation hasn’t officially revealed any changes coming to the Store’s pricing model, but the original report on the matter suggested it could be limited to certain regions and/or be a gradual rollout already underway, with “over 150 titles in 68 regions” being affected. If Sony is serious about its implementation, it’ll no doubt become a tricky move to pull off, especially if the powers that be aren’t transparent about it.
Though Insider Gaming only shared screenshots that show Stellar Blade getting that treatment, the site also claims these “experiments” appear to be limited to first-party releases for now. Korean studio Shift Up isn’t part of PlayStation Studios, but it was Sony Interactive Entertainment who published the hit game on PS5.
