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Cheap PS5 Consoles from Japan Are Flooding China’s Grey Markets

By Weilin Li
Sep. 7, 2022 updated 04:55

The PlayStation 5 game consoles sold in Japan are flowing abroad on a large scale and more than half of them go to China, according to a report by The Nikkei.

The main reason for this is the recent JPY depreciation, which makes the console’s price in Japan look much cheaper to players using other currencies. The suggested retail prices of PS5 are 55,000 yen in Japan, when exchanged to USD it’s less than 2/3rd of the retail price in China. Shipping is relatively cheap from Japan to China, and both countries shares the same type of power plugs, leading to a massive grey market overflow.

A PS5 console from Japan on the second-hand market in China was sold at 5199 CNY (~746 USD).A PS5 console from Japan on the second-hand market in China was sold at 5199 CNY (~746 USD).

According to a director eBay in Japan, the number of PS5 consoles, sold from Japan to the overseas markets, are significantly higher from January to March and the figure of sales from this period equals 7.4 times that of the same period last year. The according figure for the period of April to June is 10.7 times.

When asked about the reselling consoles, Sony said it “declined to comment," while Nintendo said it "has been aware of the problem," according to the Nikkei report.

Source: The Nikkei