•Sony has announced a cheaper all-black digital PS5 priced at 55,000 Yen (about $350), but the console will be available only in Japan. The “Midnight Black” edition launches November 19, coinciding with the release of Grand Theft Авто 6.
This comes after a series of price increases that have pushed the digital PS5 to $599 in the US. An affordable console like this could theoretically break sales records if released worldwide, but Sony has restricted it to the Japanese market.
According to Sony’s blog post announcing the launch, the model “can only be used with a PlayStation account that has the system language set to ‘Japanese’ and the ‘Country/Region’ set to ‘Japan.'” While there may be ways around this restriction for committed users, the console is effectively exclusive to Japanese players.
This isn’t Sony’s first cheaper PS5 targeting the Japanese market. In November 2025, Sony announced a digital PS5 at the same 55,000 Yen price point, also restricted to Japanese users, according to Polygon. The new Midnight Black edition builds on that precedent with an updated colorway.
The timing matters given recent market conditions. Throughout much of 2026, hardware prices have been affected by demand from AI datacenters—a shortage expected to continue—and which has already prompted Sony to raise PS5 and PS5 Pro prices in the US back in March.
With used PS5 Pros now selling for around $1,400, another price increase appears likely. This makes it improbable that Sony will offer a similarly priced console in the US or Europe anytime soon.
The Midnight Black colorway doesn’t currently exist in Western markets, where the closest option is the Black PS5 sold by Gamestop. However, this new edition remains exclusive to Japan.
This article was originally published on IGN by Jackie Thomas, Senior Tech Editor at IGN.
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