The same chip shortage driving the AI buildout is now hitting your living room.
The New Prices
Sony announced Friday that all PS5 models will get more expensive on April 2:
The standard PS5 with a disc drive goes from $549.99 to $649.99. The Digital Edition rises from $499.99 to $599.99. The PS5 Pro jumps $150 to $899.99. The PlayStation Portal remote player goes from $200 to $250.
Sony cited "continued pressures in the global economic landscape" without being more specific. But analysts have a clearer explanation.
The AI Connection
Memory chips — a key component in gaming consoles — are in short supply. AI data centers are buying them up faster than manufacturers can produce them, leaving companies like Sony competing for limited supply at elevated prices.
Piers Harding-Rolls at Ampere Analysis told CNBC that Sony likely had price-protection deals on components that have now expired, "leaving the company exposed to rising costs." He added that a "new wave of inflation" from the Iran war could compound the problem further.
This is the second PS5 price hike in less than a year. Sony raised prices by $50 across the board in August 2025. Combined, the PS5 has now become 30% more expensive than it was at launch.
What It Means for the Industry
Xbox raised the Series X to $649.99 last year. Nintendo is under pressure to avoid hiking the Switch 2 so early in its lifecycle, but faces the same memory cost environment.
The era of gaming hardware getting cheaper as it ages appears to be over — at least for now. A PS5 Digital Edition that cost $399.99 at launch will soon cost $599.99, and there's no clear timeline for when component costs might ease.
GTA 6 is still coming. How many people will pay $600 for a console to play it is the question Sony's betting on.
