Faced with American customs duties and the production costs that fly away, Sony and Microsoft have recently announced an unprecedented increase in the price of their consoles, a symbol of a generalized fever in the industry that will last, according to experts.
The PlayStation 5 of the Japanese giant saw its price go from 400 to 500 € at its launch in 2020 to a range of 490 to 550 € today. For the Xbox Series of the Bill Gates firm, it is now necessary to pay between 349 and 599 €, against between 300 and 500 € in 2020.
While usually the price of these technological products drops during their life cycle, analysts see in recent increases the direct consequence of customs duties imposed by US President Donald Trump on his business partners.
“75% of consoles shipped to the United States in 2024 were manufactured in China”, struck by 145% customs tariffs on many products since April, recalls the specialized firm Niko Partners in a note published this same month.
Scheduled on June 5, the new Nintendo console, the Switch 2, seems to be preserved for the moment, the Japanese giant having moved in 2019 a part of its production in Vietnam, where the increase in customs duties (+46%) was frozen for 90 days.
Widespread
But if it were to fully enter into force, “we could see an increase in costs of several hundred $” by console, warns Christopher Dring.
While Nintendo has caused the anger of a game of players by offering its new “Mario Kart World” between 80 and 90 € in Europe, Microsoft has announced an upcoming up to ten $ in the world of games produced by its studios, around 70 €.
“These prices will become the norm in the sector in the next two years,” warns Niko Partners.
Alternative
“I will have to be much more selective,” reacts an 18 -year -old high school student who chose to “ignore” the Switch 2 because of its price.
Like him, many players have turned to productions from more modest studios sold 20 to 30 € cheaper, as “Clear obscure: Expedition 33”.
Others have subscribed to the subscriptions offered by the large manufacturers, who give access to a certain number of titles against fifteen € per month on average.
Remedial effect
However, most experts agree that video games have, paradoxically, has never been so cheap. Taking into account inflation, several consoles have displayed much higher prices in the past, such as PlayStation 3, released in 2007 around 800 €.
Brought back to inflation, “the price of games has never been as low as today,” notes Matthew Ball, analyst in the Epyllion cabinet, in his report on the state of the video game in 2025. At the same time, “development costs have tripled in the past five years”, underlines Christopher Dring.
If he went out at the price currently practiced in the United States for new games, namely $ 70 (58 €), the “Blockbuster” “GTA VI”, expected for May 26, 2026, “would be the cheapest GTA in the whole saga,” said Matthew Ball, while his budget is much more important than that of his predecessors.
This is why the expert anticipates that with the arrival of this mastodon next year, the symbolic bar of 100 $ (83 €) could be reached.
