Gaming market under pressure. Consoles and subscriptions are getting more and more expensive
For years, video games were considered one of the best forms of entertainment in terms of price: you bought a console, a game, connected everything to your TV and you could play for hours. Today, this model is no longer so simple and profitable. Price increases affect almost every aspect of the hobby.
Hardware prices have increased over the past year: Microsoft's Xbox Series S has gone up from $379.99 to $399.99. in October, and the PlayStation 5 version with a drive increased in price from $549.99 to $649.99. in April. Nintendo Switch 2 currently costs $449.99, but its price will increase to $499.99. in September. The game “Mario Kart World” for this console, priced at $79.99, has become an example of the industry approaching the era of games costing $80.
Services are also becoming more expensive. The monthly PlayStation Plus subscription (Essential plan) increased in May from $9.99 to $10.99, and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate increased in price by $10 in October. to $29.99 per month (though the price was reduced to $22.99 in April). PC gamers are also feeling the price increases – computer memory prices are rising.
More and more expensive games. How to solve this?
Analysts told Business Insider that there is no simple solution to the problem of rising prices in the gaming industry.
“The reason so many gaming components are getting more expensive at once is because the entire ecosystem is under pressure.” said James Sheridan, CEO of Sheridan Technologies and former firmware engineer at HP. “The industry is being squeezed from both sides,” he added.
Sheridan pointed to factors such as tariffs, rising hardware costs and competition for semiconductors amid the artificial intelligence boom.
These rising costs are passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices for games, consoles and accessories. Sheridan also noted that gamers today have more opportunities to spend money after purchasing basic equipment and games.
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“Game prices will continue to rise”
Dan Mazei, a partner at All Tangled Roots and former head of communications at Activision Blizzard, told Business Insider that the increase in game prices is also due to the economics of producing large AAA titles.
“Game prices will continue to rise because production cycles are long and extremely expensive,” Mazei said. “For AAA games, it's difficult to cut costs given the high revenue targets and expenses already incurred.”
However, the pay rises do not affect all players equally. People who use older consoles and play offline can still spend little.
Those who want to stay up to date with new hardware, the biggest premieres, online subscriptions and high-performance PC components are feeling it the most – because prices are rising in almost all areas at once. And players are already getting ready for high-profile premieres later in 2026, including the next installment of the Grand Theft Auto series.
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“In the beginning, the strategy was to acquire users and build gaming habit,” Sheridan said. “Now consumers not only pay higher prices, but they also get more opportunities to spend once they enter the ecosystem.”
Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft did not respond to requests for comment.
The article is a translation from American edition of Business Insider
