PC Slower Than It Used to Be?
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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteYes—by one important measure, today’s consoles are historically expensive: they tend to retain much more of their inflation-adjusted launch price years after release than earlier systems did. That does not mean they are the most expensive consoles ever at launch, or that every current model is unaffordable. It means buyers have less reason to expect the old pattern of steep price declines as a console ages.
Are game consoles more expensive now than they used to be?
The clearest evidence is what happened to prices after launch. Ars Technica’s 2025 comparison calculated that the median console released before 2016 cost less than half its inflation-adjusted launch price after three years. For modern consoles, the median was about 85% of launch price after three years and about 92% after five years. These are group medians, not predictions for every console.
The same analysis found that older consoles that remained on sale continued to lose real value: they averaged about 43% of their inflation-adjusted launch price in year five and 33% in year eight. In other words, consoles used to become substantially cheaper over time even after accounting for inflation; recent systems have generally held closer to their launch prices.
These figures describe inflation-adjusted prices, not the amount on a store shelf in a particular week. They also compare price trajectories, not performance, game libraries, or value for money.
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Does “historically overpriced” mean the highest launch prices ever?
No. The claim is strongest when it refers to how slowly prices have fallen after launch, not to launch prices being the highest in history. Ars Technica’s 2020 analysis put the mean inflation-adjusted historical launch price at $550.36 and the median at $460.50, in 2020 dollars. For consoles launched since 2000, it reported a $461 mean and $444.50 median, also in 2020 dollars. Those historical comparisons include systems with inflation-adjusted launch prices above many modern consoles.
So “overpriced” here is a judgment about the price path and the weaker prospect of waiting for a large reduction—not proof that every modern console costs more than every older one, or that its price exceeds its value.
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What a recent price increase shows—and what it doesn’t
The Nintendo Switch 2 is a clear example of a change in the opposite direction from the familiar price-cut cycle. Ars Technica reported that Nintendo announced a US MSRP increase from $449.99 to $499.99, effective September 1, 2026. That is a manufacturer’s suggested retail price, not a guarantee that every retailer charges that amount. The announcement demonstrates that a console’s official price can rise after launch; it does not establish the price available at every shop or the value of buying one.
For perspective, Nintendo Life’s 2025 comparison listed the original Switch’s US launch price as $299.99 in 2017, equivalent to an estimated $363 in 2025 dollars using US inflation calculations. It listed the Switch 2’s 2025 launch price as $449.99. The estimate is a like-for-like inflation comparison, not an income-affordability measure, and it predates Nintendo’s announced 2026 increase.
Why are prices holding up?
Reporting on recent console pricing points to several contributing pressures: higher-than-normal inflation, tariffs and other market shocks, component and supply-chain costs, and slower reductions in manufacturing costs. These factors help explain why prices may not follow older patterns, but the available reporting does not isolate how much each one accounts for or prove a single cause.
For household budgets, the practical result is straightforward: waiting several years may no longer deliver the sharp real-price drop that buyers saw with many previous generations. A temporary retailer discount can still appear, but it is different from a permanent manufacturer price cut and should not be treated as the normal aging pattern.
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How to judge whether a console price is really high
Make comparisons on the same basis. A launch MSRP, a later permanent MSRP, and a temporary sale price answer different questions. So do a standard console and a bundle. To compare prices across years, convert older prices to a stated base year; to judge strain on a household budget, compare the purchase with income instead. Inflation adjustment measures changes in purchasing power, while income-relative comparison asks how large the purchase is for a household.
- Check the market: the figures above are primarily US prices and should not be generalized to other countries.
- Check the price type: distinguish manufacturer MSRP from a retailer’s current selling price or short-term promotion.
- Check the time since launch: a launch-price comparison is not the same as comparing a system in year three or year five.
- Check the product tier: compare equivalent models and bundles rather than treating all console packages as interchangeable.
- Check the inflation base: historical prices are meaningful only when the conversion year is stated.
With those distinctions in place, the historical pattern is notable but not absolute: many older consoles became far cheaper in real terms as they aged, while modern-console medians have remained much nearer launch prices. That is the sense in which today’s consoles are historically overpriced.
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