PS5 Costs Too Much, But These New Xbox Price Increases Are Just Absurd

Pretty sure this will be my last Playstation. All good things must come to an end.

Microsoft aren’t making the money on software to combat the hardware crisis so have less of a choice compared to Sony. They can’t be expected to foot the bill for the consumer. They are clearly trying to maintain a profit on hardware sales.

If anyone stuck on last gen consoles wants to play GTA 6 its now pretty much certain they will get a PS5. These absurd increases and the looming lay offs and closures are not doing Xbox any favors, any goodwill they have garnered over the last couple months has just gone out the window.

"we expect another doubling by the fall of 2027"

Please no D:

haha! PlayStation 5 and PS+ increases in 5, 4, 3....

Who'd have thought that when I bought my ps5 and xbox series x back in 2020 they'd be investments that I could sell as a profit?

I guess we are getting Gears of War after all. No way they'll stop here on their quest for profits

@gomersoul Don't worry, Sony will be increasing too

@LiamCroft "The entire consumer electronics industry is struggling with the current components crisis"

If you'd like another real world example of price increases Apple just announced some this morning, on par with these increases.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/25/apple-macbook-ipad-price-hike-memory.html

Might be able to sell my Series X for a profit now!

We expect another doubling by the fall of 2027.

There's no way the helix doesn't cost less than £1200, and at this rate I highly doubt it's coming next year.

Also expect Gears on PS5 by end of 2027.

Raise the price of their struggling products whilst also buying up all the ram for their yet to be built data centres. Microsoft 2026

If we'd bought stock in $MU in 2020 for the price of a PS5 we'd have about $12,500 US now

@gomersoul They're also one of the companies jumping at AI, this making the problem for themselves.

Maybe we were too harsh on the Steam Machine pricing...

Good luck with all those new Xbox sales; they thought they would get from their Gears exclusive.

We're all going to be digging out our ps2s at this rate lol.

I find it wild that a 1TB series s costs the same as a base digital ps5. Who’s walking into a store and choosing the underpowered series s in that scenario?

@get2sammyb It 100% will. Mircon announced at their earning yesterday that we won't see any relief until 2028. They're only going up

Microsoft spending billions on Co-pilot that no one ***** wants so they can win this stupid AI arms race that no one ***** wants, pushing up the cost of components.

Also Microsoft: surprised Pikachu face

Glad I got my Pro right before the price increase happened.

Don’t worry, I’m sure Sony will step in and raise again.

It's always funny to hear the reasons for price hikes from Microsoft, as if they are not on of the biggest hyperscalers pushing this crap.

It's also ridiculous how good of a deal PS5 pro feels like in light of this and the steam machine prices.

What a mess we are in. I am scared to even imagine how much the PS6 is gonna cost. All of this without even mentioning another price hike for PS5 itself.

Wonder if instead of being a dust catcher, I could sell my Series S for something close to a profit over the original price?

@get2sammyb Even if software sales could in theory be more of a buffer, this is an almost guaranteed outcome. I look forward to your article on it, Sammy 😅

Sadly, I foresee all 3 major consoles going up in price again with the way things are going. If not late 2026, then early 2027.

At least we know there wont be any shortage of articles to write about this issue given the prices will never actually come back down.

I’m torn on the prices. Yes, they are getting expensive, but I’ve also gotten so many hours out of my PS5, and that isn’t going to change anytime soon.

I just hope increased prices means a longer console life. If I’m going to get 5-10 years out of console, the prices are a little easier to stomach.

But the people on PX keep telling me Helix will be less then 1K 😂

If anyone decides to release new consoles next year, I really can't see it working out well at all. 😬
Though I'm curious why MS didn't just decide to produce fewer consoles like Sony did to help mitigate costs. They already weren't selling much so that would've been preferable to yet another price increase imo.

Ridiculous timeline. I bet when Sony raises their price though, it’ll be purely due to Sony being greedy 😈

To everyone that bought a PS5 Pro at launch, well done 🙌🏼👏🏼

Storage and memory prices have increased. Gee, who's responsible for that I wonder?

Can we just put the lid on these AI companies already? They’re treating this like the NFT scam. Let’s disrupt the hell out of global technology markets for the worst reasons while banking on “gee, I hope this all works out and we make lots of money”.

How long until they announce the return to multiplatform? They are about to realize no one is going to spend this much no matter what exclusives they have?

Im starting to doubt how many new users will come to xbox or Playstation for even GTA6 with these prices. We're talking about close to $800 to play a single game. I just dont see casuals doing that.

This is awful news. Microsoft can do it because they've got nothing to lose, nobody is buying their console and Microsoft doesn't need Xbox to do well to sruvive,it can eat any loss without a seconds thought. What this does though is give everybody else, particularly Sony, carte blanche to raise the prices themselves, they're not going to have a superior product on the market that is noticeably cheaper than would be competitors. Another price hike off the bck of this will be around the corner.

PlayStation will have at least one more increase.

@get2sammyb I think it will be new year for next Sony rise.

It’s only been a couple of months since the last one… and sales have tanked hard so I think they will be sat on quite a bit of stock for now.

I wouldn't be surprised if we get a mid October notice from Sony of a PS5 price increase notice prior to the GT6 release. You know Sony is discussing it and weighing the pros and cons ... they would be fools not to thinking about it.

They will be monitoring the pre-orders and if folks are getting the $100 full-game version of GT6 in overwhelming numbers, I think they will.

Wow that is insane against the cheaper PS5 prices.

I don’t think it would be a good time for Sony or XBOX to release anything new.
Just make amazing games for their consoles and tap more power out of them development wise. And just ride the storm and release new consoles when this is over, even if it’s 2030.
What gets me they both moan they make hardly any profit from consoles so why are they always in a rush to make less money on a new console release.

If Apple cant make the supply chain work Sony is going to have a really tough time. Apple must be sensing that the component prices aren’t coming down anytime soon. My guess is Sony will have to raise price again. I just bought another Pro today, 2TB vs the base is worth it alone almost.

I don’t think gaming can take anymore price increases.

I have a feeling Sony will increase prices again, but I hope not for gaming sake they don’t.

I really hope this doesn’t end up with Cloud gaming being the next generation thing.

I absolutely hate cloud gaming, I want instant gaming at full graphical and sound effects the best they can be and no gaming lag.

Sony will surely be desperate to hold out until GTA launches to strengthen their claim that people should get a PS5 for it.

Maybe even telegraph a price increase from 1st December to get people on board sooner.

The other thing I’d love to see is clarity re the PS6.

Overall I just hope the bubble bursts soon and as it deflates we see some price correction, and companies don’t just hold where we are.

Frustrating times.

@LiamCroft "Sony has raised the prices of its PS5 systems a number of time this generation." Twice to be exact.

AI is really kicking consumer electronics in the head. Of course, MS is one of the biggest investors in AI but all consumer electronics companies are facing skyrocketing costs.

https://wccftech.com/memory-shortages-destroy-consumer-segment-dram-prices-surge-89-percent/amp/

In the latest research by SigmaIntel, the firm states that consumer memory prices swelled by up to 89% in the second quarter of 2026. The prices weren't up versus last year, but versus the last quarter, showing just how brutal things have been in the consumer segment.
————

16 GB DDR4 used to retail for around $60-$70 while 16 GB DDR5 modules were amply available in the $90-$100 US range. These are now selling for 2-3x their original rates. SSDs have also jumped significantly. Yesterday, we were casually browsing the discounted SSD lists and saw that even with discounts, a 1 TB Gen4, which used to retail for around $70-$80, was being sold at $130-$150 US.

We don't expect any major changes in the pricing trend. With shortages lasting up to 2028, these will continue to get worse or remain the same (which will be the best-case scenario). Reports that DRAM manufacturers may prioritize general-purpose DRAM over HBM are floating about, but that is just to gain more profits.

This has been a crazy gen.

And to think on Pure Xbox the mirth making was over Sony laying off Bungie staff. Now Xbox raise console hardware prices. To and Fro. Back and forth. F*** AI

Lol, I got my Series S for 250€ a couple of months after the launch. It looks like a bargain now, it seemed expensive to me back then...

Xbox: “All your rake are belong to us.”

Game industry be like;

@Fiendish-Beaver

So who is the bad guy really...? 😉

Depends, who is helping to create this memory shortage due to large investment in AI, Sony or Microsoft?

@get2sammyb it most certainly will

The sooner AI calms down the better. Just praying my PS5 doesn’t give out soon. Gonna get worse before it gets better.

It's fine , guys. No need to get worried. We got AI. I will ask AI on what to do and strategy to battle this

Fun fact: the Dotcom bubble lasted roughly 5-6 years.

We are only 1-2 years into the AI bubble.

Pretty crazy to think that the cheapest Series S is now the same price as a launch PS5 w/disc drive...

"Our" corporation A may suck, but "their" corporation B is even worse!

I don't care, got my Pro on launch day when most people on here were laughing at it and calling it overpriced.

They're not laughing now.

And when PS6 comes out, I don't care if it's a grand, I'll get that day one as well and people here can whine and wring their hands as much as they want.

Sony has the chance to do the funniest thing ever...

You can literally get a PS5 and GTA 6 for less than an Xbox 😅

This makes keeping Gears E Day off PS5 even more ridiculous, especially as it would probably have done as well as FH5 at 5 million plus sold.

Now we have to cross everything we've got that they don't breakdown. Insurance probably a good idea,

@1970sGamer It is overpriced - two wrongs don’t make a right, & im still laughing 😂

The timing of the announcement and the increase itself makes it feel like this is part of the GTA6 plays best on PS5 campaign. Great synergy.

That said I am afraid we’ll see increases for PlayStation and Switch too.

These prices are bonkers now it's absolutely crazy 🤪🤪
I bought a series s for 350 euro brand new a little while later series X brand new for 450 euros brand spanking new!!
Next gen prices will be bonkers!!

Man, I thought I'd lost the plot when I paid £900 for the 30th Anniversary Pro bundle, but actually it's turned out to be one of the best deals I've ever had. What I thought was a ridiculous luxury purchase was actually a super lucky bonus.

@get2sammyb My thoughts exactly.

What's with the price only in USD, does this mean Europeans (and Brits) don't get a price hike? (or did I completely gloss over that paragraph?)

This is getting insane

@Old-Red damn you. fist at cloud.i wanted one of them lol