- Sony has seemingly been caught testing dynamic pricing again
- PS5 users are seeing different discounts for Star Wars games based on unknown account factors
- Some regions seem unaffected by the experiment
Dynamic pricing is back in the gaming news, as PS5 players are yet again seeing the wild disparity between discount amounts for the same game — and its all-digital future feels ever more like a nightmare.
When looking at buying Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order while logged into their PlayStation account Reddit user Bluemonkey88 was told it would cost them CA$19.24, or a roughly 65% discount from its RRP. Meanwhile the sequel Jedi: Survivor would set them back CA$23.39 (a 74% saving). As soon as they logged out Fallen Order dropped to CA$10.99, an 80% drop from full price, and Survivor fell to CA$13.49, or an 85% discount.
In the replies, we can see folks being offered the games for CA$13.99 and CA$18.19, though further muddying the waters a couple of US users — one with PS Plus and another without — both see the games at $7.99 and $10.49, suggesting not every region or user is subject to the same price testing.
I really dislike these new pricing practices on the PlayStation Storefrom r/PS5
What is dynamic pricing?
If you haven’t heard before, dynamic pricing is where a product’s cost fluctuates based on who is buying the product, or when they’re buying it.
It goes by other names you might have seen like surge pricing on Uber — when everyone is trying to book a cab, say just as a concert ends or if the weather turns bad, you’ll see costs rise because demand is up.
In Sony’s case here the pricing seems more algorithmic. There’s an unending supply of digital games, so instead the discount amount folks are seeing looks to be based on how likely it is you’ll buy the product, and adjusting the sale until it just tips you over the edge.
For example someone who maybe plays a couple of games a year or isn’t a mega Star Wars or action adventure game fan might see a steep discount as they’ll need more convincing. Whereas a mega fan of Star Wars, or a gamer who digests a new title every other week might be willing to pay more.
It’s like how airlines and hotels are accused of upping costs for folks who have filled their search history with holiday plans to a dream destination — if they’re desperate to go to, say, Paris, then they’ll be willing to maybe pay that little bit extra compared with a more agnostic traveller.
No thank you
This isn’t the first time Sony has been caught testing dynamic pricing. In fact, some kind of experiment has been going on from as far back as November last year.
And it’s as scummy a practice then as it is now, and it will continue to be as awfully anti-consumer as some of Sony’s other recent moves (i.e. killing physical games media).
Though if you’re thinking of jumping ship to Xbox it too has been caught with its hand in the dynamic pricing cookie jar. In its case it appears Microsoft is offering deeper Game Pass discounts to some accounts than others, with current subscribers unable to see the deal at all.
A digital-only gaming future already has so many downsides when it comes to ownership, game archiving, offline access and more, that we simply don’t need to add dynamic pricing to the mix.
Maybe Sony will reverse course, though its efforts for the past year suggest that dynamic pricing is here to stay. The best thing we can do is point it out every time it’s spotted, and making sure we don’t get suckered in with higher prices.
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