In the context of the times we live in, this move is not surprising. You’ve undoubtedly noticed the price of pretty much everything going up over the last several months, and many of those raising their prices cite the same (or similar) economic factors as PlayStation has. Even Meta raised the price of the Quest 2 headset by $100 earlier this month. At the risk of boring you with an economic lecture I don’t feel fully qualified to give, it’s safe to say that times are tough at the moment.
In the grand context of video game history, though, this move is genuinely surprising. Try as I might, I couldn’t find another instance of a major console manufacturer actually raising the price of their flagship console in this way and for this reason. The price of a new console will of course go up if its manufacturer releases a special edition of that hardware or some kind of new bundle, but we’re used to seeing console prices drop as the hardware ages rather than rise.
This already unfortunate turn of events is further complicated by the fact that supply shortages are still preventing many people from buying a PS5 at its MSRP (whether that be the previous retail price of the new one). Indeed, many gamers have already resorted to paying inflated prices for a PS5 via secondhand markets. Obviously, you can expect the price of a PS5 to go up even more via those channels as well as a result of this recent decision.
There is a lot more to say about the PS5 price hike, and we will undoubtedly say more about it as this situation unfolds in the coming weeks and months. However, you’re not alone if this news leaves you wondering whether or not this means Nintendo and Microsoft intend to raise the retail prices of the Switch and Xbox Series X/S.
So far as that goes, the first thing you need to know is that we can really only speculate about Microsoft and Nintendo’s long-term intentions. At the time of this writing, neither company has raised the price of their consoles or definitively indicated that they intend to do so in the future.
However, that doesn’t mean they haven’t addressed this subject in the past. Earlier this month, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa stated that Nintendo has no intentions of raising the price of any version of the Nintendo Switch. They have reduced the size of the Switch’s packaging in an effort to lower the console’s shipping/manufacturing costs, but they seem genuinely interested in keeping Switch prices where they are.
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