Sony has been accused of launching dynamic pricing for hit PlayStation games including The Last Of Us, God Of War and more.
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PlayStation price monitoring website PS Prices has been tracking the cost of various games on Sony’s digital store after they discovered “unusual offer structures containing experiment identifiers”.
Over the weekend, they shared an update on Sony’s alleged dynamic pricing, revealing that 139 different games in 68 regions were affected, with price differences coming in between 5.3 per cent to 17.9 per cent.
Dynamic pricing means that the cost of an item can fluctuate based on demand, purchase history, time of day or location. The controversial model is used with ride-sharing apps, hotels and flights.
“Some PlayStation Store users see experimental prices that are significantly lower than the standard retail price,” explained PC Prices. “This is a controlled test by Sony to study the price elasticity of demand. Users are randomly placed in control or test groups and see different prices for the same games.”
Very interesting.
Sony is apparently testing dynamic pricing on its software.https://t.co/KLHAaz3eHNhttps://t.co/c6hdYZDnHd pic.twitter.com/WZNHkWQIfG
— Derek Strickland (@DeekeTweak) March 6, 2026
To start with, just a handful of games were included in the test but Sony has recently added some of its biggest titles to the experiment – including God Of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Helldivers 2, Stellar Blade and The Last Of Us.
“This indicates the seriousness of the experiment: Sony is prepared to change prices on its key titles,” wrote PS Prices. According to Polygon, Sony is yet to respond to the findings.
On social media, PlayStation users have found that the cost of certain games increases after they log into their online account and sale prices also differ between accounts.
Sony’s dynamic pricing now charges some accounts more money for logging in. pic.twitter.com/PIfnB4OrIG
— Pirat_Nation (@Pirat_Nation) March 8, 2026
Some have argued that Sony is only offering “dynamic discounts” with those who spend less set to receive the biggest discounts while others have warned that the model will learn what a certain user is willing to spend, and adjust their pricing accordingly – which will end up costing them more in the long run. “It’s a scummy ass practice built around making you pay the absolute most you’re willing to,” wrote one Reddit user.
Last week it was reported that Sony was looking to scrap bringing its exclusive games to PC over concerns it would affect sales of the PlayStation 6 following the news that the next-gen Xbox would be able to play PC titles.
In other news, music from The Last Of Us, The Last Of Us Part 2 and the HBO adaptation has been given an orchestral remix for a new vinyl album.
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