Can we say goodbye to the idea of affordable gaming on consoles? Xbox prices have gone up, PlayStation prices have gone up, and Nintendo certainly won’t be selling their consoles at a loss either. Do you believe that after all the price increases for consoles, there is no going back to the price below 500 euros?
As things currently stand, this week only one of the four current consoles will cost less than 500 euros. The Xbox Series S is regularly sold in our market at a starting price of 430 euros. After that, it is followed by the Nintendo Switch 2, which costs 500 euros, and many predict a price increase soon. And then – a big jump: the cheapest PlayStation 5 will cost 600 euros starting this week.
This is the first generation of consoles whose prices did not go down, but in the opposite direction – they went up in price by 50% or more. Because of this, analysts’ forecasts are not great – there are already mentions of future consoles that could reach the psychological barrier of a thousand euros. And it’s totally the opposite of what consoles have been until now – relatively affordable devices with which gaming was not an elitist hobby for the rich. However, at the moment the situation is as it is, so we are interested in your opinion.
Do you think that the price increases of consoles in the last two years are also a turning point for that category of devices? Will we ever see new consoles that will be cheaper than 500 euros, or a third of the average salary in Croatia? Is there hope or will the answer to the challenges continue to be – more money?