Unlike PS5, Xbox and Switch won’t get price hikes — yet

(Image credit: Future)

The PS5 is about to get more expensive, for no real reason. If you didn’t see the news earlier this week, Sony is jacking the PS5’s price in Europe, as well as parts of southeast Asia and North America. The company claims that manufacturing costs have increased, and the price hike will help compensate.

The move has understandably made a lot of potential buyers unhappy — which is why they might be pleased to know that Microsoft and Nintendo have no intention of following suit. The Xbox and the Switch will retain their current prices for now, although both companies hedged their bets about what might happen in the future.

Facebook and Sony have essentially set the precedent that raising console prices is an acceptable practice. While the Meta Quest 2 and PS5 price hikes have raised some hackles, there’s no evidence that either company’s sales have decreased. At a certain point, Microsoft and Nintendo may decide to do the same thing, as it’s likely that those two companies are facing the same kind of manufacturing cost increases.

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Marshall Honorof was a senior editor for Tom's Guide, overseeing the site's coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a science writing background, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of science and technology. After hours, you can find him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on classic sci-fi.