The Nintendo Switch 2 is Nintendo’s most expensive gaming hardware to date, and yet, they continue to smash records and outpace the $300USD Nintendo Switch 1 (which already had Super Mario Odyssey and Zelda Breath of the Wild at this point). And the same goes for software sales in many respects: DKBananza, for instance, costs $10USD more than BotW did back in 2017, yet sales figures are not all too dissimilar up until now. Same can be said about $70USD Pokopia seeing a bigger debut than Super Mario Odyssey at $60USD, and Pokémon Legends Z-A costing $70USD on NS2 yet selling about as well as any other $60USD Pokémon game.

The Nintendo Switch saw a price hike across all SKUs in US back in August 2025, yet sales have seemingly carried along as though nothing even changed.

The PlayStation 5 has seen price hike after price hike in its hardware over these past five-and-a-half years… yet the system remains in-line with PS4 sales figures, and has even witnessed some truly remarkable sales figures notably throughout Europe.

The standard cost for your major AAA production sits at around $70USD, and yet, we continue to see time and time again sales records being shattered: Elden Ring, Hogwartz Legacy, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and (very likely) GTAVI.

My question to you all is this: Do price hikes truly have as substantial an impact on sales figures as the internt likes to suggest? There definitely are many many instances where as price hike does cause issues (most notably $250USD 3DS, $500USD PS3, and the August 2024 JP price hike for PS5), but there are just as many instances where sales figures in fact are bolstered.

If it survives a £520 slim digital without dropping sales I would be genuinely fucking shocked. Sony gonna have to start selling buildings again otherwise.

Of course they do. Sometimes products are underpriced compared to what the market values them at. The Wii, DS and Switch come to mind, just like the PS5 in its early days - all of these console were sold out for long stretches of time. However, sometimes products are overpriced and there's of course a point at which more and more consumers won't see a high enough value in a product anymore and thus sales will suffer.

This is only logical. Just ask yourself: Would you buy your next Android or iPhone if it got a 100$ price hike? What about a 250$ price hike? What about a 1,000$ price hike? There will inevitably be a point where you'll go "nope!".

I do expect PS5 sales to decrease because of this and I also expect Switch 2 sales to suffer if / when Nintendo does something similar. Also, a 300$ PS5 or a 200$ Switch 1 would certainly have sold more units.

Eventually. It's just that gaming as become something akin to a smart phone, so people are willing to pay more. If this sort of thing (companies no longer subsidizing consoles) was happening in the 90's, gaming would have literally died out. Back then, it was viewed as a hobby, or a past time, not a necessity.

It will.

Switch 2 is a good deal in Japan, one could say even underpriced, so it naturally replaces the overpriced Switch. If Switch 2 got a price increase on par with the other price hikes, then sales will drop.

Switch is done and dusted, but sales did probably get impacted by the price hike all the same.

PS5 might not surpass the PS4 at this rate.

They very much do. Xbox Series sales took a big hit last year and Switch 1 sales in the US took a notable hit after that price increase so saying nothing changed there is wrong. A big price increase like the PS5 is about to get is gonna make it sales tank a lot.

Absolutely. I am buying way less S2 games because of their price.

What is going to be funny, I fully expect the ps6 to have a loan program.

For the 30 and 40+ year old gamer, probably not. For the 8 year old, yeah I don't think many parents are going to line up to buy a $1000+ PS6 in a few years.

I could be wrong, but I can't fathom many ps5 selling in the US. Not when gas, houses, food, etc. are all super expensive.

Grocery prices going up. Gas prices skyrocketing. Min wage not increased in like 15 years at least. But yeah no problem buying a $700 6 year old console.