Established wisdom used to be that buying a game console at launch was a bad idea. It was the worst-possible version of the experience: launch consoles cost more and had fewer games, and often these consoles got not only cheaper but better over time, through revisions that made them smaller or added features. For the current generation, though, those who bought at launch look like geniuses — video game consoles just keep getting more expensive. And it couldn’t come at a worse time for the industry.
The most recent example comes from Microsoft, which just raised the price of its current Xbox lineup so that the more expensive model now costs $150 more than it did at launch. Last week’s price bumps saw the Xbox Series X reach $649.99, while its smaller sibling is now $399.99. Part of what makes these hikes sting so much is that they aren’t the first; both Xbox consoles had their prices increased this May, and in 2023 the Series X got a bump in many countries outside the US. To put that in perspective, when it launched in 2020, the Series X cost $499. That now seems like a steal.
Microsoft isn’t the only one, of course. Sony jacked up the price of all PS5 models by $50 in August, and in the same month Nintendo raised the price of the original Switch — yes, the one that came out in 2017 — by $40. Accessories have also gotten more expensive, and we’re now in a time of $80 games like Mario Kart World.
The main reason for these increases isn’t a secret, even if companies like to obfuscate it behind phrases like “changes in the macroeconomic environment” or “market conditions.” The reason is tariffs, which are of course impacting basically everything, not just video games. But video game consoles feel particularly sensitive to these increases.
For one, it goes against the natural order as we’ve come to expect it. Historically consoles steadily get less expensive over time. In 2016 both Sony and Microsoft released smaller and cheaper versions of their consoles, and a few years later Nintendo did something similar with the handheld-only Switch Lite.
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Even before tariffs began wreaking havoc, this cycle was in jeopardy, likely due to a combination of increased competition and steadily rising development costs. When Sony introduced a slimmer PS5 in 2023, it wasn’t a new inexpensive model; it simply replaced the launch model and sold at the same price. This means that the calculus has changed, and the best time to buy a new game console now seems to be “as soon as you can,” because these things are no longer getting cheaper.
That sucks for everyone who missed out on those launch-day prices. The bigger issue, though, is that this is a very bad time for consoles to become even more inaccessible than they already are. The entire game console paradigm has been shifting for years, with the supposed “console wars” waning: Xbox games are bestsellers on PlayStation (and vice versa), everyone is releasing former exclusives on PC, and subscriptions like Game Pass are further muddying the waters.
There’s less and less of a reason to buy one box over the other, and options like the Steam Deck mean that maybe you choose neither. Add to this an entire generation of players raised on multiplatform experiences like Minecraft, Fortnite, and Roblox, and the idea of buying $80 games for your $700 console feels increasingly antiquated.
I’m not saying that consoles are dead, or that tariffs are the final nail in the proverbial coffin. But these price hikes are likely to speed up a process that was already in motion, where traditional consoles are increasingly becoming a niche, luxury good and not the dominant way to play video games. It’s going to be harder than ever for these platforms to increase their scale without the injection of fresh players that comes with a mid-cycle refresh and price cut.
Which, if nothing else, means you shouldn’t wait much longer to snap up a Switch 2.
0 Comments
