Sony and rental company Raylo have teamed up to offer PlayStation Flex, a leasing program for PS5 consoles in the UK, and the math is absolutely grim. Advertised as starting at £9.95 per month, the deal requires a 36-month commitment, you can’t cancel without penalties, and by the end of three years, you hand the console back empty-handed.
The headline price only applies to the obscure 825GB digital-only PS5 if you lock in for three years. Want the standard 1TB model? That’s £11.59 a month on contract, but £24.49 if you go month-to-month. Over 36 months at the cheapest rate, you’ll pay £417.24, not much less than the £479.99 retail price, except you don’t actually own anything at the end. If you can’t commit and roll monthly instead, you’re out £882 over three years for a console you still have to return.
It gets worse. Sony‘s store boasts that approval takes just 60 seconds with only a soft credit check, making it dangerously easy to sign up for a multi-year contract without proof you can afford it. If you need to bail early, you’ll owe a minimum of 18 months of payments plus two extra months just to escape, and Sony‘s site is vague about what happens if you can’t keep up.
This feels like a revival of the exploitative UK rental schemes from the ’70s and 2010s, dressed up in “circular economy” greenwashing. Raylo, which has taken on over £180 million in debt to expand this model, plans to bring it stateside later this year. If you’re stretching to afford a PS5, this isn’t the answer: it’s a trap. Save your money, buy used, or wait for a sale. At least then you’ll actually own the damn thing.
Source: Kotaku
