Over the past year, tariffs have hiked costs across nearly every aspect of American life, from basic necessities to hobbies – and video games are no exception. Gaming already demands hefty up-front investments in equipment in addition to the rising price tags of many top-shelf games. Tariffs have forced companies to raise prices on consoles, and the electronics manufacturers and companies behind top gaming devices like the Xbox, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and more have spent the past year raising prices to unaffordable levels for pros and casual gamers alike. Meanwhile, the unfettered, unregulated growth of the AI industry has increased supply pressures on memory chips and processing components, putting pressure on video game console makers to delay the next generation of releases to next year. There’s no sign of relief in the near future either; less than a week into 2026, the manufacturer of key Xbox components warned of price hikes on hardware. Read more about rising gaming costs:
HEADLINES
- Dallas News: Cyber Monday video game prices reveal weight of tariffs
- IGN: Video Game Physical Software and Hardware Sales Just Had the Worst November in the U.S. Since 1995
- The Verge: Video game hardware sales had a historically bad November in the US
- Politico: Video games are getting more expensive amid trade war
- Just days into 2026, the electronics maker behind a range of PC gaming hardware including Xbox warned partners of “strategic price adjustments” for certain products starting January 5. (Kotaku)
- Video game hardware prices rose 11 percent year-over-year – more than three times faster than inflation overall. Xbox prices alone rose over 30 percent on average. (IGN)
- In December, industry insiders warned that the ongoing price increases in RAM due to the rise in AI could delay the next generation of video game console releases to 2027 or 2028. (NPR)
- Spending on video game hardware dropped 27 percent in November compared to 2024 – the lowest November video game hardware spending total since 2005, and the lowest number of units sold since 1995. (The Verge)
- Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo have all raised prices on their flagship consoles amid new tariffs. (Politico)
- Microsoft increased the price of the Xbox Series S from $300 to $370 and increased the Xbox Series X from $500 to $600. Xbox controllers and headsets also got more expensive.
- Nintendo increased the price of older Switch models by $50, and accessories got multiple rounds of price hikes in 2025.
- Sony increased the price of a PS5 from $450 to $500. Other versions, including the Pro, went up by $50.
- By August, just months into the government’s new tariff regime, the average console was anywhere from $30 to $100 more expensive than it was a year ago. (Kotaku)