One of the gloomier predictions and studies about the impact of the Trump presidency on gaming is that the price of consoles, particularly Sony’s PlayStation, might balloon to $1,000. The potential price hike would mostly be a reaction to US President Trump’s tariff policies. However, it appears Sony and even the Japanese market are confident that the corporation won’t be affected too much or at all.
The rather generous assumption came from Sony Group itself in a statement to Japanese media outlet, Nikkei Shimbun. Sony Group isn’t worried as the corporation will be relatively less affected based on their estimates and despite the general wariness toward Trump’s impending tariffs.
Sony Group’s confidence stems from its rising stock value, which has risen for three consecutive days by about 4.61 percent. The Sony milestone also brought a new record high for the company’s share value ever since it was listed. Furthermore, Sony Group posits that since it primarily does business in content-related fields, such as video games, the effect of Trump’s tariffs could be less pronounced.
It’s worth noting that the stock price increase is for the Japanese market only, and Sony Group was initially worried that Trump’s tariffs would drive away their Japanese investors. That wasn’t the case.
Apparently, Sony’s stock price rise was driven by investors with high expectations, because the corporation has recently changed its management. Hiroki Totoki is now the new Sony CEO, replacing the previous Kenichiro Yoshida, and this has instilled new confidence in investors.
Sony Remains Confident Despite Live-Service Setbacks
Surprisingly, one would’ve expected the opposite for Sony since 2024 was one of the most expensive years for the corporation. Concord notably failed hard despite the $400 million budget and Sony also cancelled several live-service games for 2025.
The live-service failures didn’t seem to affect the impression of Sony in Japan, and investors have bought more shares anyway. This is likely due to how Sony in the US is a separate entity compared to Sony in Japan. Even so, Sony Corporation of America is a subsidiary of Sony as a conglomerate and is still led by the aforementioned Sony CEO and also funded by Sony Group.
