Rising console prices are by now a fact of life for gamers, no matter which platform they prefer. The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X — consoles that are now six years old — cost $150 and $300 more than at launch, respectively; the Nintendo Switch 2, released in 2025, already costs $50 more.

Things haven't always been this way: back in 2013, the PS4 launched for $400, and the PS4 Slim arrived three years later for $300. Price cuts and cheaper versions were traditionally a part — a key part — of the console lifecycle.

In 2026, that pattern is reversed: consoles are getting more expensive rather than cheaper, at a time when everything else is also getting price hikes, and the trend is occurring all over the world, not just in the US and Europe.

To find out why prices keep rising — and whether they'll ever come down — I spoke to four industry analysts: Rhys Elliott at Alinea Analytics, James McWhirter at Omdia, Piers Harding-Rolls at Ampere Analysis, and Mat Piscatella at Circana.

Traditionally, hardware makers have launched new consoles at relatively slim margins — even at times making a loss — and planned to make up the difference through games and other spending by players.

Manufacturing efficiencies combined with advances in hardware, including cheaper chips and memory, have helped to reduce production costs, further cementing the durability of this model.

Making use of these gains, manufacturers could then introduce slimmer versions of consoles or even reduce prices — therefore enticing more people to the platform and increasing game sales.

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