- 16 hours ago
Valve's massive Steam Deck price increase has sparked a bigger question: are video games becoming too expensive for the average player? With Steam Deck prices jumping by over $200, Xbox and PlayStation price hikes, Switch 2 increases on the horizon, and hardware costs continuing to rise, analysts are warning that gaming may never be as affordable as it once was.
In today's stream, we'll break down the latest industry analysis on rising hardware prices, the impact of AI-driven RAM shortages, tariffs, inflation, and what this could mean for gamers through 2029 and beyond. Will gaming become a luxury hobby? Will cloud gaming and subscriptions replace traditional consoles? And what does all of this mean for the future of PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, Steam Deck, and PC gaming?
đź’¬ Join the discussion and share your thoughts:
Are gaming prices getting out of control?
Would you pay more for your next console?
Is cloud gaming the future?
Could gaming become a luxury hobby?
🔥 Live reactions, analysis, and community discussion starting now!
In today's stream, we'll break down the latest industry analysis on rising hardware prices, the impact of AI-driven RAM shortages, tariffs, inflation, and what this could mean for gamers through 2029 and beyond. Will gaming become a luxury hobby? Will cloud gaming and subscriptions replace traditional consoles? And what does all of this mean for the future of PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, Steam Deck, and PC gaming?
đź’¬ Join the discussion and share your thoughts:
Are gaming prices getting out of control?
Would you pay more for your next console?
Is cloud gaming the future?
Could gaming become a luxury hobby?
🔥 Live reactions, analysis, and community discussion starting now!
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GamingTranscript
00:00Don't expect gaming hardware prices to go down anytime soon.
00:03It's the most hold-on-to-your-butts moment I've seen in 20 years.
00:08Last week, Valve pushed the price of its Steam Deck into the stratosphere,
00:14raising the cost of both versions of the device by more than $200 each.
00:18That move has sparked widespread concern about how many other hardware dominoes might fall as a result.
00:24At the same time, the Nintendo Switch 2 is already set to receive a small price increase later this year.
00:31Xbox consoles have seen multiple price hikes in the United States,
00:34and PlayStation 5 systems have also gone up in price globally on more than one occasion.
00:40All of this is happening in the middle of broader cost of living increases, groceries, fuel, housing,
00:47and more are all becoming more expensive even as wages struggle to keep pace.
00:51It's a difficult time in general, and an increasingly expensive one for video games specifically.
00:58So will things improve?
00:59If they do, will they get worse first?
01:02Rather than speculate aimlessly, a bunch of games industry and the analysts broke down why this is happening,
01:10whether relief is likely, and what it could all mean for the future of gaming.
01:14So why is everything so much more expensive?
01:17You've likely already heard that one of the biggest reasons gaming hardware prices are climbing so sharply is the ongoing
01:24RAM crisis.
01:25Demand has surged dramatically as companies ramp up AI data center construction,
01:30consuming enormous quantities of memory, and tightening global supply for years to come.
01:35That explanation is broadly accurate.
01:37However, it helps to confirm it with experts in the field.
01:40Juiced Van Junen from NYU, he's a NYU Stern professor and author of the Super Juice playlist, he goes,
01:48The rising cost of RAM is the main culprit, but the inconsistency and volatility created by U.S. tariffs aren't
01:55helping either.
01:56Downstream suppliers and manufacturers now sit on massive amounts of inventory they cannot sell or assemble
02:02because few consumers would be willing to pay for the markup.
02:05What was supposed to bring manufacturing jobs to the U.S. has instead priced consumers out of the market
02:11and pushed manufacturing jobs to lower-wage countries.
02:16Dr. Sercan Totos, CEO of Canton Games, agrees with that assessment.
02:21He says, he adds,
02:23Persistent inflation worldwide and geopolitical instability, such as the Iran War,
02:28are also contributing factors to the current situation.
02:31Daniel Ahmad, Director of Research and Insights at Nico Partners, also points to currency fluctuations as another piece of the
02:39puzzle.
02:40Ahmad notes that however many of these pressures are more concentrated in the U.S. and Western markets,
02:45he argues that other regions are faring better in comparison.
02:49The Asia and MENA games market continues to demonstrate resilience and long-term growth potential amid ongoing geopolitical uncertainty,
02:56shifting trade policies and broader economic volatility, impacting industries worldwide, he says.
03:03Asia and MENA countries will continue to outpace worldwide video game software and services growth through 2030,
03:10according to our forecast and global estimates.
03:15The situation is slightly different for handheld gaming, especially with Nintendo entering a new console generation.
03:21James McWhirter, Cedar Analyst at Omdia, explains that while manufacturers can subsidize hardware costs,
03:28component prices are rising faster than those subsidies can offset, something particularly challenging for Nintendo.
03:36He says,
03:37We further expect price increases to the price of...
03:41Let me rephrase that.
03:44We expect further increases to the price of Switch 2 in 2027.
03:50So, are hardware prices done rising?
03:53No.
03:55They're not.
03:59Every analyst agreed that gaming hardware prices are likely to continue climbing.
04:03Many placed a rough window between 2027 and 2029 before any potential easing, if it happens at all.
04:12Riss Elliott, Head of Market Analysis at Alinea Analytics, explains that what we're seeing now is just the delayed effect
04:18of earlier market conditions.
04:20The increases happening now are lagging indicators, not the peak.
04:24Platform holders and manufacturers run on long-term supply contracts and inventory buffers that initially shielded retail pricing.
04:33As those contracts expire, companies are renegotiating component costs at today's inflated rate, and that pressure is industry-wide.
04:42Elliott adds that there may not be a clear upper limit yet, because pricing pressure only becomes a true problem
04:48when it starts affecting consumer demand.
04:56Pricier hardware is only an issue for platform holders when it chokes off a pipeline of new spending users.
05:02And right now, that pipeline is still healthy.
05:05PlayStation and Steam's ecosystems are still growing, and the PS5 generation will also be extended by a long cycle of
05:12cross-generation games.
05:14Matt Piscitella, Senior Director at Ciccana, agrees that a ceiling likely exists, but says no one knows where it is
05:21yet.
05:22Some very tough choices with long-ranging impact will have to be made by all hardware manufacturers both now and
05:29in the coming months when it comes to pricing and production.
05:32Yes, at some point there is a viable price cap.
05:35When that cap is, however, is still a bit of a mystery, and dependent upon numerous factors, both quantifiable and
05:42not so much.
05:43The market has never before been in this position, and we're learning many things about it as we go.
05:49So, you're probably wondering, well, will prices ever go back down?
05:54A major reason relief seems unlikely in the short term is demand from what Van Drunen calls hyperscalers, companies building
06:03massive data centers.
06:05Firms like NVIDIA are increasingly focused on large enterprise clients rather than consumer markets.
06:11Factories producing these components are already heavily booked through roughly 2028.
06:16Even once capacity frees up, McWerter notes it will take time for supply to catch up to the demand.
06:23Whether prices return to pre-2026 levels after that remains uncertain.
06:28Many analysts are not optimistic.
06:32Tiago Weiss, marketing analyst at NewZoo, says the industry may have permanently shifted its baseline.
06:37Our base case is that the industry is entering a period where the pricing floor for gaming hardware is likely
06:44higher than it was before.
06:46NewZoo's market data shows that engagement remains concentrated around established ecosystems and older titles, while overall growth is increasingly driven
06:55by monetization rather than major expansion in player time.
06:58Our interpretation is that these conditions reduce pressure on platform holders to aggressively subsidize hardware in the way previous generations
07:07sometimes did.
07:08That doesn't mean prices can never come down, but a return to earlier pricing expectations looks increasingly unlikely.
07:16Van Drunen is even more pessimistic, suggesting that rising costs could reshape who gaming is even for.
07:28He says,
07:52a virtual PC or console in the cloud for a monthly fee.
07:56Others are more mixed in their outlook.
07:58Toto agrees that high-end PC gaming is already becoming a luxury category, while Piscitella and McWerter also see increasing
08:06strain at the top end of the market.
08:09McWerter adds that Nintendo is especially exposed right now due to timing in its console cycle and shifting third-party
08:16support.
08:16It's an imperative that it must grow the Switch 2's installed base as quickly as possible.
08:23At the same time, analysts push back on the idea that gaming is becoming inaccessible entirely.
08:29Ahmad points to mobile gaming, cloud subscriptions, internet cafes, older gamer libraries, and free-to-play ecosystems as the way
08:37the industry remains broadly accessible.
08:41Piscitella puts it bluntly,
08:43gaming as a whole has plenty of low-cost or free-gaming options, particularly in the mobile and free-to
08:48-play space,
08:49that directly contradict the notion of being a luxury hobby and are more likely to thrive in the current economic
08:55conditions
08:56that companies have been fond of citing as the reason for their higher prices.
09:07Elliot also argues the industry will likely redistribute rather than contract.
09:12Nintendo aside, brand new games from around a year ago are often heavily discounted.
09:17Buying new AAA titles at launch is becoming more of a luxury thing,
09:21but gaming's accumulated back catalog, mobile games, subscriptions, and heavy discounts on older titles
09:27mean games will always stay accessible to the masses.
09:31Still, not everyone is entirely pessimistic.
09:34Ahmad believes mid-generation spikes may stabilize as component costs eventually settle,
09:39even if prices don't return to previous lows.
09:42Toto adds a more helpful note that supply conditions could normalize again in the late 2020s,
09:47drawing parallels to the post-COVID console recovery when scarcity eventually flipped into oversupply.
09:55After years of compiling industry forecasts, there's a growing sense among analysts that certainty is disappearing.
10:02Piscitella summarizes it bluntly.
10:04The truly incredible bit of all this is that no one you ask will know what's going to happen,
10:09and all forecasts at this point are nothing more than point-in-time estimates
10:13based on a set of assumptions that could be made void within a month, week, day, or hour.
10:18Anyone that says they know what happens next is either lying to themselves or trying to sell something.
10:23It's the most hold-on-to-your-butts moment I've seen in 20 years in the industry,
10:28and it both worries and saddens me.
10:31There are some comments on this story.
10:34Not all stories have them.
10:41So, Cactus Galactus goes,
10:43The unfortunate situation is that you are better off paying inflated prices to upgrade right now
10:48than you will be when you eventually pay further inflated prices six months from now.
10:52That is to say, the best time to buy was last year.
10:55The second best time is right now.
10:59Relic1980 goes,
11:01One thing I've never seen to see mentioned is the equally absurd price rises on solid-state drives.
11:06That contributes to the expense of not only consoles but also PCs.
11:10I built my main computer back in 2022 and used a board and processor that required DDR4 memory.
11:17I was able to buy 32GB of that for around $120 back then.
11:22It costs twice that now.
11:23However, I also bought three 2TB SSDs around the same time.
11:29The T-Group SSD costs $72, and two HP drives cost $60 each.
11:36Current comparable drives cost over $200 each.
11:39My next upgrade will be a new graphics card,
11:42but it will be a long time before I voluntarily upgrade my SSDs.
11:46Mind you, if one dies, I'll have little choice, though I'd likely dial back to a 1TB and make it
11:51the C-Drive.
11:52Current-gen consoles rely on SSDs, and certainly next-gen machines will,
11:57so it ain't just DDR5 causing the price hikes.
12:01Stealth Mantis goes,
12:02I feel bad for the young folks who still have their entire gaming lives ahead of them.
12:06It really sucks that they have nothing but an increasingly cost-prohibitive hobby to look forward to.
12:13Me, I'm 45 already.
12:15I've got all three current-gen systems.
12:17If the next round is crazy expensive, I can very easily just not bother.
12:21I've got more than enough video games to keep me busy for the rest of my life
12:25if I never bought another one, and I stopped at the current-gen consoles.
12:29I have no problem whatsoever just opting out of buying new stuff
12:33and playing through my backlog for the rest of my life,
12:36or for as long as I can still grip a controller, at least.
12:40Alright, so, my feeling on that is,
12:47yeah, unfortunately, there's no way around it.
12:52Gaming has been getting a lot more expensive.
12:55That's a given.
13:00And unfortunately, I used to say this on the podcast all the time
13:04with Dr. Games 101,
13:07just go back to retro.
13:09And unfortunately, unless you want to stick with the main generation as it is now,
13:16PS5, Xbox series,
13:18and Switch 2,
13:19if you can get in on the Switch 2,
13:21if you haven't already,
13:25that's really your only choice,
13:27because, you know,
13:28as these consoles,
13:30we hear them possibly going to $800, $900.
13:35Not many people can afford that,
13:37and then you've got to think about,
13:39well, these video games,
13:41they're not $60 anymore.
13:42Now they're $70 or $80.
13:44And publishers want Take-Two
13:49to raise the price of Grand Theft Auto 6
13:52to possibly $90 or $100 for the base game.
13:57Not many people can just drop $1,000 on the console
14:00and then still buy even $60 games,
14:03let alone $70, $80, $90, or $100.
14:06It's,
14:07not many people can afford that.
14:12So, yeah, I mean,
14:14you know,
14:15this isn't a go-back-to-retro thing
14:18entirely,
14:19because you're mad at the gaming company,
14:22you're mad at, like,
14:23a certain publisher,
14:24or gaming publishers in general,
14:25or system console developers.
14:28It's just what you can afford at this point.
14:32You know, there's a lot of games,
14:33and another thing,
14:35there's a lot of games,
14:36I'm 39,
14:39there were a lot of games coming out
14:41that we either,
14:43A, never heard of as a kid,
14:45but were actually quite good,
14:46or fun to play,
14:48or games that we wanted to play as kids,
14:51like when we used to see commercials on TV,
14:54and the,
14:55and we just never got to try that game,
14:57because money was a lot harder to come by,
15:00except for maybe birthdays and Christmas.
15:03So,
15:04and even then,
15:05that wasn't enough to buy every single game
15:07that you were interested in.
15:09So,
15:10you know,
15:11I mean,
15:12whatever consoles you have,
15:14or that you enjoyed as a kid,
15:16if you can get,
15:17you know,
15:17maybe,
15:18maybe you liked Sega Genesis as a kid,
15:20but you didn't have,
15:21but you don't have your current Genesis now.
15:23Maybe you could,
15:24maybe you get one.
15:26It's all up to you.
15:27You know,
15:28some people will say,
15:29hey,
15:29get a PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
15:32I still have my PlayStation 3,
15:34Xbox 360,
15:35and Wii U.
15:36I also,
15:38but the only,
15:39the most recent system I have
15:42is the base Xbox One.
15:46So,
15:47you know,
15:47it's all up to you,
15:49specifically,
15:50what consoles you want to get.
15:52But,
15:53unfortunately,
15:54yeah,
15:54I think a lot of people
15:55are going to be going into that backlog,
15:58because,
16:01you know,
16:01gaming is just getting too,
16:03way too expensive,
16:04way too quickly.
16:07So,
16:09yeah,
16:10if you,
16:10whatever console you were interested in,
16:12or maybe,
16:13think about games
16:14that you didn't,
16:17get to try out
16:18when you were,
16:18when they were brand new,
16:20for whatever console they are,
16:22maybe now is that time.
16:25And if,
16:26also,
16:27there are many games out there
16:28that we never heard of
16:31if they were good.
16:33I'll,
16:33I'll bring up a few right now.
16:36Conquest of the Crystal Palace
16:37on Nintendo.
16:39For Sega Genesis,
16:41there was,
16:44there wasn't really anything
16:45on Sega Genesis,
16:47even as a kid.
16:49But,
16:49like,
16:49on Nintendo 64,
16:51Battle Tanks,
16:51the first one,
16:52I did not like Global Assault.
16:55Um,
16:56you know,
16:56these were good games
16:57that I never heard about
16:58as a kid.
17:00So,
17:01why,
17:01why not
17:03see,
17:04um,
17:04you know,
17:05with video game reviews
17:06on YouTube,
17:07easily to find
17:08for almost any game
17:09out there.
17:10If,
17:11you're,
17:12uh,
17:12dealing with,
17:13uh,
17:13financial struggles,
17:14um,
17:15to keep up in this,
17:17uh,
17:17with,
17:17uh,
17:18current gen,
17:19or if,
17:20PC gaming is just getting
17:22way too expensive,
17:23as,
17:23it's always been expensive,
17:25the most expensive,
17:26in my opinion.
17:28Uh,
17:29maybe,
17:29find,
17:30uh,
17:30whatever,
17:30based on whatever console you have,
17:32uh,
17:32do some research on games
17:34that you'd ever even heard about,
17:35you know,
17:35just browse the library,
17:36and if something looks interesting,
17:38you can always pull up a review
17:40on YouTube,
17:40and see if it was worth your time.
17:43So,
17:44I mean,
17:45that's what I would do,
17:46do if I had to,
17:47and I might have to,
17:48um,
17:50because I'm not,
17:51I'm not upgrading to PS5,
17:53Xbox,
17:54uh,
17:54series,
17:55or,
17:56um,
17:56Switch,
17:57or Switch 2,
17:58anytime soon.
18:00But,
18:01you know,
18:02there's always,
18:03there's always the older games,
18:05so,
18:06um,
18:07that's my,
18:08that's my advice,
18:09is to go searching for those older ones
18:11that you never got to play,
18:12or,
18:13uh,
18:14never even heard about.
18:15Do,
18:16do some exploring.
18:17Find,
18:17you know,
18:17look up games,
18:18like I said,
18:19for whatever console
18:20that suits you,
18:23and,
18:24you know,
18:25you might find something
18:25just based on the cover
18:26that looks interesting,
18:28and then pull up a review,
18:29see if it's something
18:30you think you would like.
18:31I'm not going to be able to do it.
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