On the heels of a massive launch in the North America, and over six million sales through four months worldwide, there’s been some shakeups recently within Sony Computer Entertainment America. Long-time executive Jack Tretton is leaving the company, Amy Hennig has left Naughty Dog, and layoffs have cut back the mighty Santa Monica Studios, all in the span of a month. You’d hope that would mean there’s some good news on the horizon, right? Well if you live in Canada, this isn’t the kind of news you were hoping for.The Toronto Sun has reported that effective Saturday, March 15, the price of the PlayStation 4 in Canada will increase from $399.99 to $449.99, a $50 difference from its launch just four months ago to the day. In addition, the cost of the DualShock 4 controller and PlayStation 4 Camera will increase to $64.99, five dollars higher than their original MSRP of $59.99. This follows software price increases for both PS4 and Xbox One games that took effect in January, similarly bringing retail disc costs up to $64.99 from the previous standard of $59.99; in addition, major PS4 releases inFAMOUS: Second Son and MLB 14: The Show will be coming to retail at an even steeper $69.99.

Sony Computer Entertainment Canada told the Sun that these increases were “to respond to changes in the market environment,” with the Sun noting that SCEC did not specifically cite a declining value for the Canadian dollar as a reason. The current exchange rate as of March 14 has one Canadian dollar trading at just $0.90 for every American dollar. The Sun reached out to Microsoft, who informed the newspaper that the Xbox One would not be seeing a similar increase, despite slower sales in the region.

The Sun finally noted that such price increases were not uncommon, with the PlayStation 3 receiving similar price adjustments early in its lifecycle in response to a weak Canadian currency. Hopefully the strength of the Canadian dollar will bring prices back in line with their United States counterparts soon, but until then keep an eye on SonyRumors for any further changes in PlayStation hardware and software prices down the road.

Discuss:

Is the change in the PS4’s price in Canada a cause for concern in the North American console race?

[Via Toronto Sun]