Price increases are reluctantly the norm all around the world. These issues have taken their toll on every facet of human life, from groceries to cars to clothes, and, of course, our beloved video games. Because of rising RAM prices, every major gaming console has seen some price increase over the past year, and an industry analyst believes these numbers may continue to rise as we get closer to the release of Grand Theft Auto 6.
Can Only Go Up From Here….Sadly
An interview was held by Christopher Dring of The Game Business with Matt Piscatella of Circana, who gave an interesting perspective on the industry and how some gamers don’t have their fingers on the pulse of the current gaming climate and all the chaos currently within it. He warned that some of these players may find themselves facing price shock as they could find themselves paying $1,000 just to play Grand Theft Auto 6.
“Those folks who don’t pay a lot of attention, but have heard that GTA is coming, and that’s a lot of people, they will show up and go, ‘GTA is finally out, I’m going to pick it up.’ And then… “A $1,000 console!” There’s going to be a price shock for a lot of people. And yeah, I said $1,000 because I’ve just already assumed we’re going to get more price increases. I hope we don’t.”
The words spoken by Matt Piscatella about a console costing $1,000 can soon be a harsh reality for the gaming world. As recently as this past April, the standard PlayStation 5 went up in price to $649, which is a $100 increase. The standard 1TB Xbox Series X went up in price back in October to $649 as well. Lastly, Nintendo just announced that the Switch 2 will go up in price to around $499 in September. So when you factor in the number game of it all, $1,000 consoles are well within the realm of reality.
Everything is on Fire
We all know that practically everyone with a video game console is eagerly awaiting the release of Grand Theft Auto 6. We also understand there is a sect of gamers who don’t stay up to date on the latest and greatest gaming news headlines or don’t even own a current-gen console. So, keeping that in mind, this would be a considerable jump in price compared to the much smaller price tag of last-gen consoles or even the price of current-gen consoles on day one. Hopefully, gaming doesn’t reach that point any time soon, as it would price out a lot of passionate gamers around the world and keep them from experiencing some amazing games.
