PS5 Gets An Insane Price Increase – Will Nintendo Follow Suit?

I can't be 100% certain what Nintendo is going to do with prices, but if they can hold this price, I think they kinda automatically get a huge leg up on sales for the console. I mean sure $450 isn't cheap, but it is compared to a $650 dollar PS5.

I hope not, but Nintendo was at least honest, Sony lied. They swore up and down they weren't gonna raise prices. Yeah, I knew that was a lie.

@Fighting_Game_Loser Yep. If Nintendo holds the price, they will run away with the crown this year.

I'm deeply sorry for this outcome and the world situation in general 💔

Nintendo is holding out as long as they possibly can, but I think the $499.99 price increase is imminent though, especially with the forced remodel with easy battery access coming.

Playstation getting ready for the release of GTA!! That increase is shocking.
But I also think that Nintendo will do well to not their price up with the current world situation.

The smart thing for Nintendo to do would be to not follow suit and enjoy larger sales, as a consequence of Sony's bad decision. If memory serves me right, it was always the software that had the biggest margin and hardware was usually sold at break-even or even at a loss.

Ho ho holy sh*t Christmas is being ruined early this year, the Grinch is playing hard ball.

The AI bubble seriously needs to burst soon. I hope the Switch and Switch 2 families don't follow suit (again in the Switch 1's case) anytime soon, but I'm increasingly less confident.

They will, unfortunately hardware costs will rise for them so they may have to as well.

I've been saying for ages that Nintendo knows that they can't raise the Switch 2 prices. This is a great opportunity for them to get the upper hand if they keep it that way. We've come a long way from the "$199" mic drop lol

Wow, even more good luck with the sales now Sony.

Thankfully, I wasn't planning on getting a PS5 in the near future (maybe a good used one a decade from now so I can turn my PS4 into a completely offline console, is what I have been thinking for a while), but this really sucks, and I feel bad for anyone who did want to get one this year.

Please to God at least let me get my Switch 2 before it gets a price increase, if everything goes well I should have my Switch 2 before the end of Spring 2026 thanks to money from my new job 🙏.

I cynically said in the article about Nintendo reducing their US forecast that price increases in the US would help sell units. I didn't expect Sony to be listening.

I stand by this cynicism. The US will not only buy more at this news, they will also absorb these increases and continue the hording. Shopping addiction sees no end except when food is at risk. And we have no shortage of food stuffs.

Greatness isn't cheap anymore.

So PS5 sales will halt. I can't believe they didn't decide to at least try and soften the load by offering a free digital game alongside this. That way the value proposition is similar for the consumer but the cost to Sony is less.

Its moves like this that confirms I will not be getting a PS6 despite having them all since the 1st one. It'll be interesting to see how the price of the upcoming Steam Box compares to this.

"We can only imagine that PS5 sales are going to absolutely tank from April onwards"

Nah, rich gamers are everywhere now and need their fix. Will it see a small change? Maybe. Tank? No way.

That PS5 Pro USD increase has to be a typo, right? Every other increase is £90/€100/$100 (including the Pro for £ and €), but for the US they’re adding $200 to the Pro!?! A 28% jump? Madness!

Things always come in waves. Better things will come. The AI bubble will burst or the industry will mature and supply will catch up with demand.

Maybe it's a wake up call for the console industry that it needs to ditch the generation model and operate under the smart phone model anyway. PC already operates like this - and with the cross gen for PS4/5 being so drawn out anyway and back compatible support now expected, I don't think the next Playstation should be a PS6 but just a Playstation IMO, with more emphasis on software for their financials than hardware

I imagine the blind console partisans will crow about this as more evidence that Nintendo is superior, as if price hikes for existing hardware haven't afflicted Switch devices as well. And as if more increases aren't coming.

What interests me about this whole situation, though, is witnessing the hubris of Sony (and Nintendo, for that matter) being checked... by the hubris of Nvidia and the purveyors of AI tripe. When grocers sell sausages and hot dogs, they generally don't do it by diverting the highest quality material for use in their cheapo product. In this case, though, we really can't avoid asking hardware vendors what's in the sausage, can we? Not when it's the RAM you were supposed to have in your own machine...

We need Sony and Nintendo to be humbled this generation, as in the PS3 and Wii U times, so that they can return to their better incarnations. That's a small matter, though, in the face of broader trends in technology. We don't need spooky AGI to suddenly wake up and wipe out all life on this planet - we've already got the executive class for that.

Prices will go up for sure. Even for Nintendo. These are dark times, indeed.

Wow. NL wasted no time with the sub header. I’m starting to think this site isn’t much for Nintendo fans anymore. They make IGN look pro-Nintendo.

We want to think they won't, but the Switch 1 price already went up. It's just a matter of time.

Just in time for GTAVI. I was considering finally getting one this year but a £90 increase is an absolute no go.

Sucks, for sure, but given the state of the world, the price of video games is a trivial concern.

650 for base and 900 for pro?!?!? I was thinking to get it only for games like Gran Turismo 7, Marvel Tokon and Astro Bot but seeing this price?
Yeah no thanks and i am sticking with Switch 2.

Was planning on getting a PS5 the next time they went on sale. Guess that's not happening...
@Nep-Nep-Freak rooting for you bud. I imagine Nintendo want to grow the install base as much as possible before bumping up the price so I can't see this being a problem timeline wise!

Considering Sony put the PS5 on a similarly big discount last holiday season there's a fair chance this price rise is just to get new customers to pay the costs for the units they sold at discount during the holiday 2025.

Because unlike Sony, Nintendo didn't drop the price of the Switch 2 for the holiday. Then they can't have much reason to raise the price of the Switch 2.

$900 for PS5 pro ... Yeah no I'm good.

We're gonna need a bigger boat

Why are some people cheering on this because Sony will sell less consoles? Are you really that naive?

Nintendo will HAVE to raise prices, the VRAM situation is just out of control, if even Sony who has more of a reputation of being a hardware manufacturer is being forced to raise prices it’s inevitable that Nintendo does the same thing eventually.

I got my PS5 Pro on sale for $600 and still felt kind of guilty for spending that much money on a console. Now I'm glad I got it when I did.

@Metazoxan Might as well pay up for a proper gaming PC at that price point, right?

@Pillowpants Nintendo always sold hardware at a profit.

@IOI Not as inevitable as you think. I believe Nintendo is sitting on more money, so they can probably afford to sell at the current price for a bit longer. They're going to up the ante with a lot of big new games to make up for it, though. The new Mario and Zelda games need to be released sooner, rather than later.

@BTB20 The 3DS and Wii U are an exception to that rule, after they got their price cuts, so not always. But even then, the profit margins are probably not as high as the margins on software.

OH my goodness!!! 😱

I'm pretty confident that Nintendo won't increase their pricing. They're known for consistency.
They stated the possibility of a price increase, just in case, but I sincerely doubt it would happen.

They will probably overcharge for a Switch 2 OLED when it eventually comes out, but the Switch 2 will stay at the same price forever probably (excluding regional tariffs).

After spending about 7 years reading and writing about the Switch Pro that never ever released, well maybe the $900 PS5 Pro will stop all talk of a Switch 2 Pro before it ever starts.

I mean seriously there must have been like a dozen Switch Pro articles on here over the tears. Never happened.😂

Nintendo does need a $299 Switch 2 Lite for Pokémon in 2027 though. Maybe in time for Christmas for the kiddos. 🎄

Edit: Wow. There were so many Switch Pro articles on NL over the years I'm not even going to count them. So please let's not ever start down that road again.😝

https://www.nintendolife.com/tags/switch-pro

These are some wild times we’re living in. And no sign of any improvement or sanity returning in the next several years either.

I was planning on skipping straight to the PS6, but if the PS5 Pro costs $899, then where does that leave the PS6? $1000? No thanks. Ghost of Yotei was the one game I was considering taking the plunge for, but now it's definitely not worth it.

@rjejr I'm feeling like Nintendo will adjust the prices to $499 for the V1 Switch 2, and $399 for the Switch 2 Lite, maybe $349 if we're lucky. It will still undercut the competition, and the Lite model will cost $100~ less than the main model similar to the Switch 1 family of systems. The Lite model will hit the price target Nintendo wanted originally.

Leisure activities have gotten out of control. I use to be in to motorcycles, big time. I stepped away when my son was born. Seventeen years later I’m starting to get the itch again. A BMW GS has increased 100% in that amount of time.

@Pillowpants I don’t think so, they having more cash flow doesn’t mean they can start loosing significant money on every hardware sale, Nintendo is even more exposed than Sony as they don’t have a manufacturing division and part of their business is profiting from every console sold.

Many forget that Switch 1 already went up and in the last financial report they did warn a price increase for Switch 2 might be necessary if the RAM situation doesn’t improve.

That’s insane. Nintendo MUST hold their current pricing, simple as that.

Pretty sure Nintendo would rather eat the deficit here.

They can afford it, and they'll look more attractive compared to the competition.
Their stock price recently took the kind of hit that would imply investors have been briefed about this stance.

But yeah, ultimately, I'm not in the know.

Have always considered adding a PS5. Not anymore.

@progx yeah it was kind of odd how the end of the article somehow turned this news into a "doom and gloom for Switch 2" story

Certainly, dark times in the video game space. Every company trying to keep that line going up at the expense of consumers and employees. AI/Datacenters can eat it imo.

Oh wow that´s a steep increase on Sonys part. If I were ever going to upgrade to a PS5 Pro that is thoroughly off the table now.

But the reason it hasn´t happened thus far is because my PS5 has mostly laid dormant since I finished off FFVII:Rebirth. I remain thoroughly underwhelmed by Sonys exclusive output this generation, so no biggie for me. But I am bummed on behalf of those who held out hoping the price would drop (as they could reasonably have assumed due to that being the case in every single previous generation).

I wonder why everything got different price jumps. Especially the Pro, which increased by 200 USD. I guess supply is lower, so they're expecting to sell far less, anyway.

The real question will be what these prices return to, assuming that does happen at some point in the future.

I'm glad I have bought PS5 Fat machine in 1 June 2024 before the price get inflated and before the Fat model discontinued. 😅

@TheRazor Yeah, it's called inflation lol. Your salary has increased by more than 100% in 17 years too.

@N8tiveT3ch I know, that's also what ChatGPT told me when I asked it about the state of the video game industry. I'm having it write me a paper on the topic for my class. Seems like a good topic.

Thank Christ that I managed to buy a PS5 back then, I guess. Good lord.

@IOI Time will tell...

@Quarbit
Well mine certainly hasn't. :-/

@AussieMcBucket That just proves my point. It stole my comment. But if it wants to use my poorly written comment it's going to do it anyways.

The first warning will be a price hike on NSO.

By 2030 we all gonna be priced out of video games lol. They will be something only rich people have 😮‍💨

@MTMike87 I’m totally fine with that as long as they increase the battery life (I’m still annoyed at how quickly the thing loses power)

@LucasM3 You can literally go download 5,000 free games right this second, and another 10,000 for under $5.

Being dramatic about it doesn't help anything.

Well that is about what I expected the xbox helix or PS6 to be so makes sense. I see why both Nintendo and Sony made a Japan only sku to hedge against inflation. I’m just glad I bought my switch 2 at launch. I’m buying less games but I’m not priced out of the ecosystem. Switch 2 has a steady release schedule for a multigenre gamer like myself so I am fine focusing on one platform again. I think for now though if Nintendo needs to raise prices they will look at games or accessories. (well unless they are forced to redesign the switch 2 or something).

Unfortunately this is inflation, global economic turmoil (in some countries it is worse than others), shareholder appeasement, and high budgets at work. Which would be fine if wages increased as well.

I think a price hike is inevitable, but I think they’re going to hold on until the switch 2 lite is out before they do it

Remember when the N64 launch price was £249.99 and was dropped to £149.99 two months later?

Not to mention the Gamecube was £129.99.

Also remember when PS3 launch price of £425 was considered a bit bonkers? The fact the PS5 Pro cost £699 is already nuts without going up to £789.

Gaming used to be recession and depression proof because it was cheaper than vacations, going to the movies, etc... Those days are long gone now and even if/when the ram and AI fiascos level out things may never be normal again. Modern gaming is circling the drain. I'm focusing more on my backlogs. I have enough games to last me a lifetime. Nintendo won't be able to hold off long either until they raise Switch 2 prices in my opinion. Everything really sucks right now in this dystopian world

The PS5 console is over 5 years old this is absolutely embarrassing usually a console would cost more than half it's original price at that point in its life just goes to show what happens when you have zero competition 😂

@michellelynn0976 tbf, i don't think anyone anticipated the sheer audacity of AI companies devouring like 90% of the RAM supply. Of course, I'm sure Sony would stay profitable without the price increase. But i think they were also quite blindsided

The price increases are absolutely fair and proper.

The issue is that nobody is receiving anywhere near relative pay rises.

The wealthy few are taking too much and we need a huge reset. And I mean huge... that entry level management job that has been hovering around £30k the last 10 years or so needs to be £40k. No exaggeration!

What about the PS5 Pro Disc Drive (if that's even still in production)?

As someone with a PS5, this is why I’m glad the PS6 isn’t coming anytime soon. I’m not eager to buy a new console at these prices lol

I believe that should be "day and age," no?

@Fighting_Game_Loser Except Sony will have GTA6 and that will be the main thing that matters to a massive chunk of gamers that might would have bought a Switch 2. Nintendo will raise the base price to $499 i think and maybe toss in Mario Kart every holiday season.

I think Nintendo will reduce internal storage before they increase the price. I could see a 128gb model on the horizon. A $500 SW2 seems an overshoot for their target demographic.

So it’s “good news” for Nintendo “in the short term” if PS sales will “absolutely tank” after this, yet Nintendo will still struggle with “early-sales momentum” if their price also increases in the “near future.” Huh?

But yeah, I wouldn’t be cocky for Nintendo here. They’re not immune to what’s going on. The question might be how long they can keep Switch 2 the way it is.

@Kiz3000 : The pushback on the price hike could have disastrous consequences for Sony if they do not at least include a bonus game (or three!) as a gesture of goodwill to customers, but likely for games that have long already paid for themselves (similar to how Nintendo made it up to 3DS early adopters with 20 ROMs).

And without the added pressure of including physical discs in the box, it would cost Sony next to nothing to do.

Good thing I lost my Sony fanboy badge after the PS3. I still think a PS4 would be a good purchase, but that price on the PS5 is totally unreasonable. Doom and glooming might push me to pick up a Switch 2 earlier than anticipated, but I still want to wait a little while longer.

Why can’t things get better instead of worse? I know who is causing the issues, but I’m sure a certain, brainwashed, group will disagree.

@Kiz3000 the Steam Machine will likely cost $900 or more dollars. Valve has been squeamish to hint at the price except that "it will be priced like a PC." And PC prices (outside of Apple) are going up.