Game prices are stalling as hardware prices climb
The price of a big new game has moved only once, from $70 to $80, and only for a handful of titles. Console prices have kept rising, and Americans are buying fewer consoles. The two prices a player pays have gone separate ways.
What is a premium game?
A premium game is one you buy once, like a book or a movie, and then play as much as you want without paying again. The alternative is a free-to-play game, which costs nothing to download and makes its money when players buy things inside it. The 'price ceiling' is the most players have shown they are willing to pay up front for a premium game.
Where it stands
Nintendo's Mario Kart World reached $80 in 2025. Microsoft announced $80 games and backed down within three months. Grand Theft Auto 6, due in November 2026, is priced at $79.99, which ended speculation about a $100 game. Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo all raised console prices in 2025 and 2026, blaming memory chip costs, tariffs and the wider economy. Circana calls the US market the most precarious since the early 1980s: through August 2026 Xbox sales fell 33% and PlayStation 25%, at record prices.
- PlayStation 5
- Xbox Series X
- The most expensive big new game
A PlayStation 5 costs 30% more than it did in 2020 and an Xbox Series X 60% more. The most expensive big game costs 14% more. Console prices held for five years, then rose in 2025 and again in 2026.
SourceUS list prices as the companies announced them, or as reported where they did not
| Year | PlayStation 5 | Xbox Series X | The most expensive big new game |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 500 | 499 | 70 |
| 2021 | 499 | 500 | 70 |
| 2022 | 500 | 499 | 70 |
| 2023 | 500 | 500 | 70 |
| 2024 | 500 | 500 | 70 |
| 2025 | 550 | 650 | 80 |
| 2026 | 650 | 800 | 80 |
Timeline
2020
A new console costs $499 and a big new game costs up to $70
Sony prices the PlayStation 5 at $499.99 and its own new games at up to $69.99. Microsoft prices the Xbox Series X at $499.
2025
Nintendo prices Mario Kart World at $80
Nintendo announces the Switch 2 at $450 and its launch game Mario Kart World at $80, with Donkey Kong Bananza at $70. Nintendo of America's Bill Trinen defends the price, and its president Doug Bowser calls the approach variable pricing.
Microsoft raises the Xbox by $100 and says its games will go to $80
Microsoft raises the Xbox Series X from $499.99 to $599.99 and says some of its own games will cost $79.99 from the end-of-year holiday season.
Microsoft backs down on $80 games
Microsoft cuts The Outer Worlds 2 from $80 to $70 before release and says its full-priced holiday games will stay at $70, in line with current market conditions.
Sony raises the PlayStation 5 to $549.99
Sony raises US PlayStation 5 prices from 21 August, citing a challenging economic environment. Microsoft follows on 3 October with its second rise of the year, taking the Series X to $649.99.
US console sales have their worst November since 1995
Circana counts 1.6 million consoles sold in the US in November, the fewest for a November since 1995. The average price paid for one is $439, the highest for any November. In November 2019 it was $235.
Video Games Chronicle, Chris Scullion, on Circana (17 December 2025)
2026
Sony raises the PlayStation 5 again, to $649.99
From 2 April the US PlayStation 5 costs $649.99 and the PlayStation 5 Pro $899.99, with rises in the UK, Europe and Japan too. Sony cites continued pressures in the global economy.
Nintendo raises the Switch 2 in every major market
Nintendo announces rises with its annual results. In Japan the Switch 2 goes from 49,980 yen to 59,980 yen on 25 May. On 1 September it goes from $449.99 to $499.99 in the US, with similar rises in Canada and Europe. Nintendo expects parts and tariffs to cost it about 100 billion yen in the year to March 2027.
Grand Theft Auto 6 is priced at $79.99
Rockstar prices the standard edition of Grand Theft Auto 6 at $79.99, with an Ultimate Edition at $99.99, for release on 19 November. There had been months of speculation that it would be the first $100 game.
Microsoft raises Xbox prices a third time and says it sells consoles at a loss
From 1 August, Xbox consoles with 1TB of storage cost $150 more and those with 512GB cost $100 more. Microsoft says the memory and storage chips inside them cost more than two and a half times what they did, that it expects their cost to double again by fall 2027, and that it sells consoles for less than they cost to make.
US console sales fall 39% in July
Circana reports US console unit sales down 39% from a year earlier in July, while the average selling price of a console rises 16% to $542. Its analyst Mat Piscatella ties the fall to the price rises.
Circana, Mat Piscatella, as reported by Kotaku (20 August 2026)
Sony raises the PlayStation 5 in India by 15,000 rupees
Sony raises the disc PlayStation 5 in India from 54,990 to 69,990 rupees on 30 July 2026, citing the global memory shortage.
Consequences
012025
Console makers cannot cut prices, and further rises could be 'catastrophic'
Mat Piscatella of Circana says console makers likely cannot and will not cut hardware prices. He warns that further sharp rises could be catastrophic for dedicated games machines.
Video Games Chronicle, Chris Scullion, on Circana (17 December 2025)
022026
Console makers can spread the cost
James McWhirter of Omdia notes that games and services are about 70% of the console business and hardware 30%, so Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo can recover some of the cost of memory through subscriptions, games and accessories. Memory is at least 20% of what it costs to build a PlayStation 5.
032026
Without Grand Theft Auto, $70 would have stuck
Omar Dessouky of Bank of America Securities, as relayed by PC Gamer, argued that had Take-Two not raised the price of Grand Theft Auto 6, the industry would probably have been stuck at $70 for years.
Objections
Counterpoint2026
Pricier editions get around the ceiling
Harvey Randall of PC Gamer argues that the $80 price is not the whole story. Take-Two's chief executive says pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto 6 are skewing toward the $99.99 edition, so many buyers will pay $100 anyway.
Counterpoint2026
Adjusted for inflation, games have been getting cheaper
Strauss Zelnick runs Take-Two, which owns Rockstar and set the price of Grand Theft Auto 6, so he has a stake in the argument. He says the real cost of a big game is a whole lot lower than it was 20 years ago, because prices have not kept pace with inflation. On that view the ceiling has not held. It has been falling.
Counterpoint2026
Price is not the only reason console sales fell
The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are more than five years old, an age at which sales normally slow. The Switch 2's fall of 51% in July is measured against the month after its record launch a year earlier.
Counterpoint2025
There is no single price, and nobody publishes what buyers pay
Nintendo calls its approach variable pricing: $80 for one game, $70 for another. Take-Two is keeping NBA 2K27 at $70. The chart uses list prices, which ignore discounts, bundles and subscriptions. Circana publishes the average price paid for a console. Nobody publishes one for a game.
What to watch
2026
Grand Theft Auto 6 goes on sale
19 November 2026, when Grand Theft Auto 6 is released at $79.99. The signs are whether other publishers follow to $80, and how many buyers choose the $99.99 edition.
2027
Whether memory costs double again
Fall 2027, by when Microsoft expects the cost of console memory and storage to have doubled again.
Further reading
- AnalysisNintendo exec says Mario Kart World justifies its shock $80 pricegamesradar.com
- AnalysisGrand Theft Auto 6's $80 price settles the $100 questiongamedeveloper.com
- ReportingHow a surge in memory prices will affect the games industrygamedeveloper.com
Where to follow it GamesRadar and Eurogamer business coverage, Circana US sales data, Ars Technica gaming desk
- Games companies are still cutting jobs
- Rich markets are losing players, and growth has moved elsewhere
- China's growth is going to Chinese-made games
- Publishers are retreating from live-service games
- Investors are pulling money out of studios
- Mobile games are struggling to find new players
- AI data centers are taking the memory games hardware needs
- Games media is consolidating and shrinking