TL; DR
- Xbox Series X costs 60% more than its 2020 launch price, effective August 1, 2026.
- PS5 Standard Edition in India has risen 40% since its 2021 launch, now at ₹69,990.
- DRAM and NAND memory shortages, worsened by AI demand, are cited as the core cause.
For nearly four decades, console pricing followed one predictable rule like the rest of the consumer tech industry: launch high and then get cheaper as the generation matures.
The PS3 eventually fell from $599 to $299, while the PS4 slid from $399 (a lower launch price in the first place) to below $299 in bundles. The Xbox One dropped from $499 as well, to an effective price of around $399. Unfortunately, that rule has now inverted, thanks to the ongoing memory and component shortage.
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Brutal Price Curves For Most Popular Gaming Consoles
The Xbox Series X, launched in November 2020 at $499.99, will cost $799.99 from August 1, 2026, which accounts for a massive 60% increase for hardware that has neither been changed, much less upgraded. The Series S has climbed 67% from its $299.99 debut.
If you want to get an idea of how much worse the situation is, this is Microsoft’s third hike in barely fifteen months, following increases in May 2025 and October 2025, and it’s arriving alongside the quiet discontinuation of the 2TB model. The Indian retail pricing remains under wraps for now, but it is likely to get a price revision as well.
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Sony hasn’t been much gentler. Most recently, the PS5 Standard Edition, which launched in India at ₹49,990 in 2021, got a price revision to ₹69,990. This is a 40% jump, with ₹15,000 added in this latest revision alone.
| Console | Launch Price | Current Price | Increase |
| Xbox Series X (US) | $499.99 | $799.99 | +60% |
| Xbox Series S (US) | $299.99 | $499.99 | +67% |
| Xbox Series X (UK, disc) | £499.99 | £669.99 | +34% |
| PS5 Standard Edition (India) | ₹49,990 | ₹69,990 | +40% |
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Memory Costs And A Hobby That’s Quietly Pricing People Out
Both companies point to the same root cause: DRAM and NAND memory prices have risen roughly 2.5x since last year. Microsoft has already warned of another doubling by late 2027, driven largely by AI infrastructure’s massive appetite for the semiconductor supply chain, eating into the assembly lines that were previously operating for end-consumers.
What strikes me most, however, is the timing. GTA VI launches November 19, 2026, exclusively on these two platforms: PlayStation and Xbox. Based on my understanding of the gaming market, this should be the one moment console makers would typically want prices at their most accessible point, not their least.
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Instead, someone buying the console for the game will now have to pay hundreds of dollars or thousands of rupees more than the initial pricing.
Gaming has always positioned itself as one of the more affordable hobbies, including a single upfront hardware cost (which used to be much more affordable), followed by years of use. That pitch is breaking down as we speak. When a console costs more five years into its life than it did at launch, gaming stops being the affordable escape it once was, and starts looking like every other constantly-appreciating category of consumer tech.
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