Will PlayStation Follow Xbox’s Price Increase, and What Does it Mean for GTA 6?

Xbox announced a suite of terms hikes to its consoles and accessories, positive a terms summation for games to $80 USD confirmed coming aboriginal this year. The repercussions of this announcement is seismic and far-reaching successful ways we person yet to see, and volition person large consequences not conscionable for third-party crippled prices, but apt PlayStation consoles arsenic well.

It is not an exaggeration to accidental this is the astir costly gaming has been since the 1990s. Microsoft announced that its lowest tier console, the Xbox Series S with a small implicit 500GB of retention present costs $380 USD. That’s little than $20 cheaper than a PlayStation 5 Slim Digital Astro Bot bundle connected the PlayStation store. The 2TB Xbox Series X is present $729, which is astir $30 much costly than a PS5 Pro.

The Xbox determination is connected the heels of Nintendo’s Switch 2 announcement, which created waves not lone owed to the console terms of $450 for the Switch 2 itself, but the $80 terms tag connected definite first-party games similar Mario Kart World. Nintendo, which antecedently priced its games astatine $60, skipped the $70 people drawn by Xbox and PlayStation astatine the commencement of this procreation (which successful itself caused immense uproar) and went consecutive to $80. Now Xbox volition travel that pb this vacation erstwhile archetypal enactment Xbox games volition besides deed that threshold, and it’s hard to judge the terms increases volition halt there.

Will PlayStation Games Increase to $80?

All eyes are connected Sony to spot whether it volition travel the way led by Nintendo and Xbox, but I’m astir definite it’ll denote terms hikes successful the coming weeks. The rising outgo of manufacturing and the tariffs from the US Trade War means that Sony indispensable rise prices conscionable to woody with the economical realities of the satellite today.

Hypothetically, adjacent if Sony were little impacted by the tariffs than Microsoft — which is astir surely the crushed wherefore Xbox raised prices — Sony has the much palmy hardware, and to not rise prices successful the look of contention from some Xbox and Nintendo is leaving wealth connected the table.

But much than console prices, it’s adjacent much definite that Sony volition rise the terms of its first-party PlayStation games. The institution has repeatedly touted the inherent worth of its games line-up arsenic a invaluable acquisition worthy a premium. There is nary satellite successful which Sony views its first-party games arsenic being worthy little than Xbox first-party games fixed their continued captious and commercialized success. So if Xbox is raising first-party crippled prices, I deliberation Sony volition too.

There’s adjacent precedent for Sony’s steadfast content successful the worth of its first-party IP. The institution stood by its determination to merchandise Housemarque’s past game, Returnal, astatine $70 contempt wide disapproval from fans who’ve antecedently known Housemarque for delivering great-but-smaller experiences nonstop to digital. Knowing what we cognize astir however overmuch it adjacent costs to marque Sony’s biggest first-party games, an $80 terms tag feels inevitable.

The Death of Physical Games

Beyond the summation successful console and crippled prices, the terms hikes bespeak an accidental for corporations to fast-track thing they’ve been moving towards for a agelong time: A determination to subscription services and integer games, and the extremity of carnal media.

Digital games and subscription services owned and operated by level holders similar PlayStation and Xbox gain much successful gross than carnal media and utilized crippled sales. That is wherefore PlayStation and Xbox person made specified dense investments into promoting services similar PlayStation Plus and particularly Xbox Game Pass. As acold arsenic we know, Xbox Game Pass is not receiving a terms hike (it did of people spell up successful terms the mediate of 2024), and with Xbox games soon to beryllium $80, its worth for the price-conscious user whitethorn arsenic good person accrued fixed the savings subscribing to Game Pass earns compared to buying adjacent a azygous first-party Xbox game.

As a person of carnal media, I’ve been watching this inclination of funneling users towards integer services and income with dismay, and the terms hikes connected carnal media mightiness instrumentality america towards an all-digital aboriginal adjacent faster than anticipated by anyone.

What Does This Mean for GTA 6 and Everyone Else?

The handbreaks are good and genuinely off. Even earlier the commercialized warfare and since the extremity of the COVID-19 pandemic successful 2023, the games manufacture has had to reckon with declining profits and expanding improvement costs. Questions astir whether the existent pricing of games and consoles were sustainable began to circulate among manufacture insiders and analysts, and they person present manifested successful higher costs for consoles similar the PlayStation 5 Pro and Switch 2, arsenic good arsenic first-party games.

With first-party companies firmly moving towards raising its prices, the apt last awesome to corroborate whether this pricing summation is simply a blip oregon a imperishable determination is GTA 6 (when it yet comes retired successful 2026).

The thought that Grand Theft Auto 6 could beryllium priced astatine $100 began arsenic an analyst’s prediction, but rapidly gained traction among the wider games industry. After all, with billions of dollars poured into GTA 6’s development, and implicit a decennary of clip spent connected making the game, Take-Two is looking to maximise profits from what is precise easy the most-anticipated crippled of the decade, possibly ever. In the past, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has said games are priced “very, precise low” compared to the worth they offer.

When Rockstar yet reveals the merchandise day for Grand Theft Auto 6 I’m highly assured it volition outgo $80 at the minimum. Of course, that doesn’t mean that everything volition outgo $80 – games similar Helldivers 2 and much precocious Split Fiction person proved there’s immense involvement successful little priced games that autumn conscionable extracurricular the accepted triple-A blockbuster sphere – and galore volition sacrifice playing a crippled connected time 1 if it means they tin prime it up successful a merchantability a fewer weeks oregon months down the line. But 1 thing’s for sure, prices are lone going successful 1 absorption successful the aboriginal and for galore of us, that means we’ll person to beryllium a small much choosy implicit what we bargain and play.

Matt Kim is IGN's Senior Features Editor.