All articles tagged with #console prices
The article highlights the major disappointments of 2025 across movies, video games, and console pricing, including underperforming films like Tron: Ares and Captain America: Brave New World, failed streaming projects, canceled game developments, and unprecedented increases in console prices, reflecting a year of significant setbacks and unmet expectations.
November saw the worst hardware and software sales in the US since 1995, with a 27% drop in spending and significant declines across all major consoles, largely due to rising prices and economic factors, signaling a challenging period for the gaming industry.
Microsoft has announced a second price hike for the Xbox Series S and X consoles in 2023, citing macroeconomic factors, with U.S. prices increasing by $20 to $50 and the Special Edition Xbox Series X now costing $799. This follows a previous increase in May and coincides with similar price hikes from Sony and Nintendo across their gaming consoles. Despite rising costs, Microsoft reports increased profits in its gaming division.
The cost of buying new game consoles has been steadily increasing, with recent price hikes from Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo making launch purchases more expensive than ever, which is unusual as historically consoles tend to decrease in price over time.
Microsoft has significantly increased the prices of its Xbox Series X/S consoles, with the Xbox Series X now costing up to $800, reflecting economic pressures and component costs, despite the console's launch at $500 in 2020. This price hike occurs amid declining sales and intense competition from Sony and Nintendo, raising questions about Microsoft's strategy and the future of its console business.
Sony is reportedly reducing the storage capacity of the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition in Europe from 1TB to 825GB without lowering the price, amidst rising costs and increased console prices, raising concerns about limited storage for gamers in 2025.
Sony is raising the price of all PS5 consoles in the U.S. by $50 starting August 21, citing economic challenges, with the current opportunity to purchase at the lower price ending soon. This follows a trend of rising console prices across the industry due to tariffs and chip shortages, marking a shift from the usual trend of decreasing prices over time.