“Analysts Warn of Rising Console Prices, Predict Nintendo Switch 2 Could Be More Expensive in 2026”

Do you want the bad news or the worse news first? Let’s just tackle both at once: game hardware prices surged in 2025, and we should brace ourselves for similar increases in 2026.

Industry analyst Mat Piscatella expresses serious concern about the rising costs, stating, “I’m not afraid to say I’m extremely concerned about” hardware prices in 2026. The standard Xbox Series X has jumped to $600 from $500, each version of the PS5 has seen a $50 increase, and the original Nintendo Switch, which debuted in 2017, is now priced at $340 instead of $300.

Piscatella grimly notes, “If there’s one way that cloud gaming will ever take off in a meaningful way, it would be to make dedicated gaming devices completely unavailable and/or unaffordable. It’s going to be a rocky ride in 2026.”

Dr. Serkan Toto, CEO of a Japanese game industry consultancy, is even more straightforward, stating, “One thing is certain: Hardware prices will not fall, even for the now slowly aging PS5 or Xbox Series consoles.”

He emphasizes, “Nintendo in 2025 RAISED the price of the 8-year-old Switch from $300 to $340 in the US.” And he adds, “Would anybody be shocked if Nintendo followed that up with a price increase for Switch 2 next year?”

If that happens, it could have significant repercussions for an industry obsessed with growth. Piscatella points out, “November spending on physical video games in the US was the lowest for a November month in tracked history. I expect next year to break that record. 2027 (assuming new generation consoles appear that year) will likely see further reductions.” Cheers to the new year, right?

On average, game hardware is now $200 more expensive than it was in 2019, according to industry analysts: “It could potentially be catastrophic.”