New PS5 price increases prove that console generations are truly screwed, if they’re not already dead

Sony is increasing the price of the PS5 Digital Edition for the second time this generation. Following the Nintendo Switch 2’s price reveal, which sent a large fervour through the gaming community, Sony has decided to upset console players even more.

Back in August 2022, Sony increased the price of the Digital Edition console from £360/€400 to £390/€450. Now, almost three years later, that inflated £390/€450 price tag has now increased to £430/€500.

Unlike PC, the entire point of the console ecosystem relies on a cheap entry point for gamers that’s supplemented with the purchase of software. After all, just like Steam, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo all take a hefty cut (around 30%) from the sales of games on their platforms.

In the past, this would lead to substantial price increases as the console generation went on. For example, the hilariously steep £425 price tag of the launch PlayStation 3 in 2006. Six years later, in 2012, you could get a PS3 Super Slim bundle with Uncharted 3, Gran Turismo 5 and FIFA 13 for just £259.99—a console and three major AAA games.

This is the console lifecycle, but PlayStation is twisting in the opposite direction. There are issues: the price of components isn’t dropping as fast as expected, AAA games cost more to make, but the entire point of a console is to offer an easy and affordable entry point for both gamers and developers.

In 2022, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa explained why the company would not be increasing the price of the OG Nintendo Switch in order to avoid “pricing people out” of the machine.

“We’re not considering [a price increase] at this point, for two reasons,” Furukawa said at the time. “In order to offer unique entertainment to a wide range of customers, we want to avoid pricing people out. Our competition is the variety of entertainment in the world, and we always think about pricing in terms of the value of the fun we offer.”

As Furukawa said at the time, the hardware for a console isn’t the only product they’re selling with the Nintendo president saying “our products also include software”. This is the entire point: sell at a loss, or a small gain, and supplement with software.

With console prices increasing after launch, especially twice after launch, it proves that the console industry is quickly becoming unstable. It makes sense why Xbox, the third most-popular console, is seemingly trying its own thing, branching out software sales onto PC and other platforms while turning its own console into the “Game Pass” box.

For every company outside of Nintendo, it would appear that the console market is struggling, if not royally screwed. That doesn’t mean there’s no longer a place for consoles: while PC does offer a much better experience now for casuals than it did years ago, there is still a hefty price tag and the platform still suffers from dodgy ports.

When the PS5 Pro released with a price tag of £699.99, many gamers (ourselves included) balked at the insane asking price of the more powerful console. Some even commented that the PlayStation 6 would be £600 or even £800 and, at this point, it seems that could be a real possibility.

Really, the saving grace is the second-hand market. Even as prices increase for new consoles, second-hand prices seem to be remaining fairly stable. But what we’re seeing now is that if you really, truly care about having a brand-new, sparkly console in your home, you better buy it at launch or be ready to fork out even more in the future.