PlayStation Store to Switch from US Dollars to Local Currencies in the UAE and Saudi Arabia
PlayStation will replace the US dollar with the UAE dirham as the official currency on its online store in the United Arab Emirates, while Saudi Arabia will see prices displayed in riyals, following a scheduled maintenance window in early October.
Currency change in the UAE
PlayStation has announced that its online store in the United Arab Emirates will switch its official currency from the US dollar to the UAE dirham (AED). Following the change, prices, charges and purchase receipts for UAE users will be displayed in dirhams instead of dollars.
Maintenance window from October 5–8
To implement the switch, the PlayStation Store will undergo scheduled maintenance from October 5th to 8th. During that period, no transactions will be possible — this includes credit and debit card payments, other payment methods, and wallet top-ups. According to a customer notice cited by both CairoScene and Khaleej Times, account holders do not need to take any action; once maintenance is complete, UAE accounts will automatically transition to local-currency pricing.
Saudi Arabia affected too
The same notice states that users in Saudi Arabia will also start seeing PlayStation Store prices and charges in their local currency — Saudi riyals — after the maintenance period ends on October 8th.
Impact on the PlayStation 3 store
It was additionally reported that payments on the PlayStation 3 store will already be unavailable starting October 5th. Neither CairoScene nor Khaleej Times specify whether this will have any effect on purchases already made on the PS3 platform.
Both sources report the story based on the same customer notice sent out by PlayStation, and the dates and affected countries they cite are consistent with one another.
