PlayStation fans can rejoice as Sony has confirmed a limited-time promotional offer for its PS5 console, promising a discount of flat Rs. 7,500 in India. The offer is only applicable on the 4K Blu-ray-equipped disc version of the console and goes live on Tuesday, July 25, at select online and offline retailers. The sale will run for two weeks, going through August 7, and will cut the price of the PS5 down to Rs. 47,490, which is slightly lower than the original cost at which the console was launched in February 2021. This does not affect any game bundle variants of the PS5 console, either. In November 2022, Sony raised the prices for its current-gen consoles by 10 percent for the disc version and 12.5 percent for the digital variant, and now, even if just for a brief period, the former’s price is coming back down.
“2023 has been a fantastic year for PS5 so far, with plenty of games to keep players entertained, including recently released blockbuster titles like Hogwarts Legacy and Final Fantasy XVI,” the message from Sony India reads. “We have continued to deliver incredible gaming experiences to our growing PS5 community, including PlayStation’s game subscription service, PlayStation Plus, which offers benefits such as the Game and Classics Catalog with hundreds of games to choose from.” It further added that the PS5 promotion will be live on Amazon India, Croma, Flipkart, Reliance Digital, Shopatsc, Vijay Sales, and other ‘select retailers,’ which I’m assuming refers to brick-and-mortar stores.
Now that the PS5 supplies/ restocks in India have gotten smoother, there is largely no need for customers to treat these as flash sales, fearing that the storefronts might run out of stock. That said, I’d recommend being a bit more prepared for this upcoming sale, as flocks of gamers could come together to get the best bang for the buck, which Sony hasn’t provided since its price hike in November. Even during the recent Amazon Prime Day 2023 sale, the highest discount levied on the PS5 was a price hack of Rs. 2,000, bringing the cost down to Rs. 52,990 — a far cry from the upcoming Rs. 47,490 price tag. Sites like Flipkart and Reliance Digital are notorious for cancelling orders due to server load-related technical issues, so I’d generally suggest avoiding those. But keep their tabs open, just in case.
Earlier this month, during the trial between Microsoft and the US FTC over the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the Xbox parent claimed that Sony was planning to release a PS5 Slim model, later this year, which it believes will be priced at $399.99 (about Rs. 32,764). A report from last year suggested that the new, slimmer console will come with a new chassis and a detachable disc drive. More recently, however, games journalist Tom Henderson claimed on Twitter: “Logically, with a release set for September, a reveal soon makes sense,” adding that they’re inclined to believe that the console won’t be called ‘PS5 Slim,’ but rather a PS5 rebranded as an ‘improved model.’