In May 2025, Microsoft announced that prices would be rising for its Xbox Series X/S consoles. Players greeted the news with concern. Even if most players aren’t going out to buy a new console every week, the announcement raised eyebrows. After all, the device was released in November 2020, and isn’t tech stuff supposed to get cheaper over time?
But if eyebrows were raised after one price rise, what about the second hike in August 2025? And what about the one announced in June 2026? It means that the Xbox Series X (standard disc model) had a launch price of $499, but it costs $799 today. It is, undoubtedly, an unprecedented moment in the economics of gaming.
All console companies have raised prices
To be clear about it, this is not a Microsoft/Xbox issue: Sony has hiked PlayStation prices significantly too, and just about every new piece of hardware has surged in price in recent years. Gaming subscription prices have risen. Even digital items, such as Fortnite’s V-Bucks currency, cost more to purchase.
None of this is news. Gamers have been left aghast at the rising costs pushed on them over the past couple of years. The culprit? It’s not corporate greed, per se, though gaming companies are looking to protect profits. Rather, it’s AI. Or more aptly, the demand from the AI sector on chips, RAM and other components to power AI data centers. That demand has sent companies like Nvidia into stock market orbit, but it has the consequence of pushing up prices in the gaming industry.
So what happens now? Well, beyond the worry that prices might keep rising – Xbox has intimated they might go up again – it is clearly a moment for gamers to analyze their budgets. It’s not about the cost of consoles – PC gamers have probably been hit harder than console players – it’s the ecosystem. Axios called it an existential crisis for the industry.
Savvy gamers are shopping around for bargains
The simple answer is to suck it up, cut back on purchases, or be savvy about where you play. As to the latter, there are plenty of options to explore, including free trials of subscription services. It’s worth shopping around new platforms looking for the best deals, in much the same way that casino players hunt online casino promotions from different platforms before joining. But it takes some discipline to be a thrifty gamer.
Indeed, consider one solution to cutting down costs: buying second-hand games. Sure, you have to wait around until the 1st generation gets tired of playing it, but you can go to stores like GameStop and buy perfectly good games. But will that be an option ten years from now? We say that because a recent bombshell announcement from Sony said that the company planned to phase out physical disc production as soon as 2028.
If you are a thrifty gamer, the last one seems particularly unfair. Buying second-hand discs is a godsend to many, and now that a large swathe of games – many companies will follow Sony – will only be available via a download code, the trading of games is under threat.
Evidence is mounting that gamers, especially younger gamers, are spending less. One study said that Gen Z is reining in spending by up to 25%. Obviously, people can spend less on gaming due to other financial pressures – rent is hardly cheap right now – but there is also evidence that gamers, of all ages, are becoming much more discerning, hunting bargains. Another study said that 62% of gamers do not pay full price for titles, preferring to wait until sales, promotions or price drops after the games have been out in the wild for a time.
With GTA VI arriving in a matter of months – a hefty $79.99 for the standard edition, $99.99 for the ultimate edition – one might think that early sales will be a barometer of the health of the industry. Yet, GTA VI is arguably an outlier, as fans have been waiting a long time to get their hands on what is probably the most anticipated game of the modern era. To get the pulse, it might be better to monitor sales of annually released games, such as sports titles like Madden, EA Sports FC, and NBA 2K games.
Overall, though, this feels like a point of inflection. As mentioned earlier, many experts predict that we haven’t seen the top yet when it comes to price rises. There is a lot of pressure on gamers’ budgets, and something might have to give.
