Microsoft and Nintendo are probably not raising console prices like Sony

It’s kind of a weird time to find yourself in the market for a console. Sony is raising prices on the PlayStation 5 in a whole bunch of regions, citing “challenging economic conditions” and ongoing supply problems. The price hike, specifically, is hitting Europe, the UK, Japan, China, Australia, Mexico and Canada.

Nothing in the US, but those regions cover a whole lot of the rest of the world.

Before Sony, Meta announced a price hike on its Meta Quest 2 VR headsets, bumping prices for the two year old headset by $100. The price increase was sort of historical; normally prices go down over time, not up.

So if Sony is pushing a price bump on one of the big three consoles, what’s going to happen with the other two? Well, luckily, Nintendo is being pretty clear about the future. Nintendo boss Shuntaro Furukawa laid it out very clearly during a shareholder meeting.

‘While we cannot comment on pricing strategies, we currently do not have any plans to change the price of our hardware due to inflation or increased procurement costs in each country,” Furukawa explained. “We will determine our future pricing strategies through careful and continued deliberations.”

More recently, Nintendo reaffirmed the sentiment to Eurogamer in the wake of the Sony announcement.

It’s a bit of a relief that the Switch isn’t suddenly going to cost more, but it makes sense to me. The Switch is everywhere. It’s done huge numbers. It can’t be worth the hit in public perception to up the price when everyone already has one.

At least, that’s my personal read on things.

Sony’s raising prices. Nintendo isn’t. What’s Microsoft doing?

Microsoft’s a bit murkier. The Microsoft statement actually happened first. Though the way it reads sort of leaves the door open for a price change in the near future. Microsoft let Windows Central know it had no immediate plans for a price hike. But it also cautioned that it was constantly evaluating its business.

It’s definitely a more cautious response to Sony’s move, and it doesn’t just leave the door open for raising prices. It also leaves the door open for price drops.

If Microsoft followed Sony’s price hike with a price drop, it could be devastating for the PlayStation 5 for the rest of the generation. A massive price disparity helped boost the Xbox 360 well beyond the PlayStation 3, after all.

Besides, stuff is way too expensive right now anyways. I’m not sure working more hours at a second (or in my case third) job is the way to go just to afford the current PlayStation console.