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AI Is Making The PlayStation More Expensive

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Published Mar 30, 2026
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A scale with a PlayStation console and controller on one side and a shield-emblazoned stone block atop expensive gold coins on the other, set against a cityscape background.
Summary:

  • Sony is raising PS5 prices by $100-$150 starting April 2, bringing the standard console to $650 and the PS5 Pro to $900.
  • It's the second price hike in less than a year — and analysts say the culprit is the AI boom consuming memory chips that gaming consoles also need.
  • The PS5 launched at $500 in 2020. It now costs 30% more.

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.

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