Earlier today, PlayStation confirmed that it would be increasing the price of the PS5, PS5 Pro, and PlayStation Portal, after a leak from a French retailer tipped off that the change would happen just yesterday. Now, according to Ampere Analysis analyst Piers Harding-Rolls, hardware increases in games are not done there. We should expect to see increases from Microsoft and Nintendo in the future as well, which would be the first Nintendo Switch 2 price increase and the third Xbox Series X/S price increase.
Speaking to Eurogamer, Harding-Rolls, while reacting to the price increases this morning, said, "The supply chain shock of the elongated increase in memory and storage prices – both essential for console hardware – means that there is some inevitability to the PlayStation hardware price increases announced by Sony today. It is likely that Sony had price protections for its components for a set period and this may well have come to an end."
"With no sign of prices easing largely due to demand for AI infrastructure, Sony will have made the move to protect its slim hardware margins. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Microsoft and Nintendo followed suit in the not-too-distant future."
On top of the issues Harding-Rolls identifies as coming from growth in AI infrastructure, which has led to the memory crisis the entire tech world is facing, he also points out that things are only set to get worse, as a new wave of inflation is expected due to the conflict in the Middle East. He also adds that we could see Sony raise the price of its consoles once again.
"A new wave of inflation is expected from the war in the Middle East, and this will compound the effect of the component price increases. This may have had an influence on the scale of these price increases – the standard PS5 will rise by $100 or 18 percent in the US with a similar increase in the UK and Europe. Aside from a direct impact on hardware companies, I think this will cause some general industry concern about what the broader impact will be on market activity."
Harding-Rolls continues by pointing out that this will, of course, inevitably impact software sales. "The console and the AAA PC gaming markets rely on hardware investment to bring in new active players and drive market momentum, so if this weakens it might soften demand for new games." But with big games like Grand Theft Auto VI on the horizon, and the fact that the Nintendo Switch 2 is, at the time of this writing, not yet a year old, raising hardware prices is an awkward proposition for everyone.
"Both companies will want to take full advantage of the positive impact of this system seller release," Harding-Rolls said, referring to PlayStation and Microsoft. It's also worth noting that a price increase for the Switch 2 has been a constant fear of players who were unable to grab the console at launch since the Switch 2 arrived, and that fear continues despite reassurances from Nintendo.
Something else worth considering, as Chris Dring of The Game Business points out, is that we're nearly six years into this generation of consoles, and not everyone's launch PS5 or Xbox Series device will keep chugging along for much longer.
"Some consoles break down and need replacing five years into a generation, will people be able to afford that? Beyond PlayStation, Nintendo is still at the start of its Switch 2 journey. It still wants to drive customers to its platform. How does it react to these costs?"
No other console generation has seen the price of consoles increase the deeper we get into the generation. And as everyone is currently going through their own financial struggles and facing the same economic pressures that Sony claims made it necessary to increase the price of its consoles, it's arguable that no one save for the very rich will be able to keep enjoying the latest-and-greatest games and tech on consoles and PCs.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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