Consoles Can Only Hike Prices So Much Before They Lose Their Audience

You used to be able to get a better price if you waited a few years to buy a new console. Those days are over, and I suspect console manufacturers are going to regret their collective decision to end them.

Xbox Joins PlayStation And Nintendo To Squeeze Consumers

This week, The Game Business' Christopher Dring reported that Xbox is raising its prices all around the world. In the United States (where the hikes are steepest), the Xbox Series X price is jumping from $499 to $599, while the Series S is going from $349 to $429. The price for Xbox games, too, is rising. Say goodbye to this generation's new normal of 70 bucks and say hello to the next generation's newer normal, $80. Hopefully, we can stick with this one for longer than five years before another price hike.

When you remember that we were paying $60 for all (non-Deluxe Edition) new triple-A games as recently as 2020, it really puts things in perspective.

As Dring points out, Xbox is joining the other members of The Big Three, as Nintendo and PlayStation have also recently raised prices, too. To an extent, this is understandable. President Trump’s tariff policy, which specifically targets China — where many game parts are manufactured — has console makers scrambling to turn a profit. If you can’t stop the tariffs, you have to offset the increased costs somehow, and all three have opted to pass the load on to the customers.

Nintendo announced the Switch 2’s price, and Mario Kart World’s new $80 price point, before the tariffs went into effect. But the writing was on the wall that tariffs were coming long before that. And Nintendo later raised the prices of accessories, too.

Gamers May Not Need Consoles

This is a short-term solution, but it's going to create long-term problems for the industry. Consoles have always been popular because they were a relatively cheap and easy way to get into gaming. Well, at the moment, consoles have given up on being cheap, PCs have become incredibly easy to use. With the Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and other handheld gaming PCs, finding a starter PC has never been simpler or more affordable.

As I've noted before, PC has actually become cheaper than console gaming. The initial price to get a gaming PC still tends to be more expensive if you’re going for a high-end build that can play new triple-A games with the power of a PS5 Pro. But once you have one, filling it with games to play is incredibly cheap.

Steam always has sales going with steeply discounted games. As I write this, the Dark Souls franchise is massively discounted, with all of the games on sale for 50 percent off. GOG offers similarly cheap prices, and the Epic Games Store has given away hundreds of free games in the six years since it launched.

I've written about all of this before, so I don't want to belabor the point. But, if you can get over the initial hump of a PC purchase, you have access to the widest variety of triple-A and indie games at the lowest price point.

Fewer, Freer Games

And that's assuming you’re paying for your games at all. If you’re into Fortnite, or Apex Legends, or PUBG, or Roblox, you can spend hundreds of hours with all of those games without spending a dime. You can play them on your phone, too, and though phones can obviously be expensive, you probably already have one for everyday use.

You Can Be Mad About The Price And Still Pre-Order A Switch 2

I'm mad but excited too. Sometimes two things can be true.

Games aren't just competing with other games, they're competing with TikTok and YouTube and other apps that offer endless content for free. The Switch 2 is selling well, true, but that’s a console that promises plenty of exclusives. Not everyone can get away with that, and given the extent to which Xbox has muddied the waters with its haphazardly applied exclusives policy, I’m not sure Xbox can.

I don’t think console gaming will go anywhere anytime soon. But raising the prices of everything all at once won’t endear the Big Three to players. And it sure isn’t going to get them to buy more games.

GTA 6 Being Delayed Is A Really Good Thing, Actually

2025 didn’t need GTA 6, anyway.