# Where Did the Price Drops Go? With console launches on the brain, I've been thinking about the lifecycle of a console. It occurred to me the other day that price drops for hardware are a thing of the past if the Switch, PS5, and Xbox Series consoles are any sort of gauge. Where did they go? It was an exciting thing when the console you wanted [dropped in price](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/be3-2004b-sony-drops-us-ps2-price-point-to-14999#:~:text=Sony's%20first%20announcement%20of%20E3,at%20the%20end%20of%20March.), especially if it was [coupled](https://www.ign.com/articles/2009/08/18/gc-2009-ps3-slim-and-price-drop-announced) with a "slim" revision. Throw in a few holiday/game bundles, some HDD upgrades, and you've got some competitive console pricing as the device aged. One glance at this [Fandom page](https://vgsales.fandom.com/wiki/Price_cuts) will tell you that the current slate of consoles is not dropping in price...[^1] <div class=iframe-container> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/GqQuhMwkrA4?si=v5ftMstX-Y8aQM5_" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe> </div> If you go out and buy a Switch 1 off the store shelves today, you'll pay the same price that I did on March 3, 2017—$299.99. Granted, the "red box" Switch has a better battery than the launch model. If you go out and buy a PS5 Slim with a Disc Drive off the store shelves today, you'll pay the same price I did on November 12, 2020—$499.99. Granted, the slim model is, well, slimmer—and comes with 175GBs more than the launch model. If you go out and buy a Xbox Series X with a Disc Drive off the store shelves today, you'll pay ~~the same price~~ more than I did on November 10, 2020—$~~4~~599.99.[^6] Granted, there's no difference to the baseline Series X today. You can get a disc-drive-less model for $50 cheaper though. I think you see my point and I think I have also peeled back part of the answer. The upgrades and changes are being baked in while maintaining the original MSRP. This probably makes sense to business folks and accountants. As a consumer (who did buy all of those at launch), it makes me wonder how other players can buy one if those prices are too high for them out of the gate. I remember when $149.99 was too much for a GameCube. I had to scrimp and save and sell and *then* buy a used one off eBay. Both saving over time and the used market are answers! Right now, I see PS5 and XSX consoles for $300~350 on eBay. I see Switch consoles for $175~200.[^2] While the used market is an option for people to snag a console, it doesn't answer my question of "where did the price drops go?" Bundles are half of the answer. I think is the other half—models. After the Switch 2 announcement, I heard some friends bemoan having to pay for a screen and all its tech that they'll rarely use, since they predominantly play in TV mode, like me. I saw one or two throw out [the idea](https://bsky.app/profile/wizawhat.bsky.social/post/3lnqelpeolc2c) of a home-console-only version that'd cut costs, but still offer access to the games. I love this idea, but it can't come out of the gate. Nintendo has to establish the baseline. I wrote about how surprised I was Nintendo leaned into technical specs during the Direct in my [[Nintendo Switch 2 Reveal Thoughts & Impressions|Thoughts & Impressions]] of the reveal. > [!quote] > Nintendo Switch 2 sports a 1080p 120Hz VRR LCD HDR display. That's a nerd's recipe for an alphabet soup if I have ever read one. Right off the bat, this display is sporting feature sets that definitely are not in everyone's homes yet. I suspect there will be many, many kids (heck, adults too!) whose best screen to play games on will be the Switch 2 display itself. I do not need that display 99% of the time I am playing my Nintendo Switch. I have [[Gear#Video Games|my own alphabet soup recipe]] of a TV.[^3] A solely home console iteration of the Switch 2 would definitely be in my wheelhouse. If we look back over history, we see that the video game industry (really, the tech industry) is littered with varied models. Look at my beloved PlayStation Vita. It got a [slim revision](https://www.ign.com/articles/2014/04/08/playstation-vita-slim-model-release-date-revealed) that ditched the OLED for an LCD and dropped the price to $200. Four months later in August 2014, the PlayStation TV was [announced](https://www.gamespot.com/articles/gamescom-2014-playstation-tv-launches-in-october-b/1100-6421682/) for half the price(!) and would let folks play most of the Vita's library on their TV, along with other features. It sold so poorly that it eventually dropped to roughly $50 and was discontinued less than a year later.[^4] Imagine that! A Vita-compatible for $50! There's probably no better console lineup to examine than the Nintendo 3DS, which had [six models](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_3DS#3DS_family_comparison_table) over its lifetime with prices ranging from $129.99 to $249.99. The 2DS removed the feature behind the original console's namesake proving nothing was sacred. The infamous launch price was given new life with the New 3DS XL with improved performance, controls, etc. This is where the price drops went. It went into not just a refresh or a slim model, but *many* models to diversify the console lineup and offer a wide range of entry price points. In a way, it reminds me of the smartphone market. Every year, the "Phone" doesn't drop in price when the new hotness is introduced. Sure, the old ones do, which is where this comparison falls apart, especially given the sheer volume of product. The line up, directly from the manufacturer, stops selling the old one as soon as possible. To appeal to many, many customers, their lineups are wide with options. Now phones don't make the best parallel since the range can be from $200 to $2K, but it captures the gist. There are the low-end, the standard, and the premium models. Experimentation could occur within the line-up (hello Samsung), but those are the bones. Here are a couple of examples. | Tier | Apple | Google | Samsung | | ---------- | ----------------------- | ------------------------- | --------------------------- | | Budget/Low | iPhone 16e = $599 | Pixel 9a = $499 | A15 5G 64GB = $169.99 | | Standard | iPhone 16 = $799 | Pixel 9 = $799 | Galaxy S25 = $779.99 | | Premium | iPhone Pro Max = $1,199 | Pixel 9 Pro Fold = $1,799 | Samsung Z Fold6 = $2,019.99 | If I remake this table for the current console, it doesn't look all that different. | Tier | Nintendo | PlayStation | Xbox | | ---------- | --------------------- | --------------------- | ----------------- | | Budget/Low | Switch Lite = $199.99 | PS5 Digital = $449.99 | XSS = $299.99 | | Standard | Switch = $299.99 | PS5 Disc = $499.99 | XSX = $499.99 | | Premium | Switch OLED = $349.99 | PS5 Pro = $699.99 | 2TB XSX = $599.99 | In all my research for this piece, I came across my own footnote when I wrote about [[Digging Deeper into the PS5 Pro|the PS5 Pro]] after its announcement. > "Based off MSRP, the console market hits $300, $350, $450, $500, $600, and $700. If you throw the Switch Lite in there, you can add $200. And this range, of course, does not include discounts or bundles. I don't recall a price range like this ever in the console market." The console price drop hasn't disappeared; it's been relocated. And I don't quite know how that makes me feel. It's easier for a consumer to know what to save for and target, I suppose. There is consistency in the market...at least [here in the US](https://blog.playstation.com/2025/04/13/ps5-price-to-rise-in-europe-australia-and-new-zealand/)...at least [might still be](https://www.theverge.com/news/647869/sony-ps5-price-rise-uk-europe-australia-new-zealand)??? This also means that bundles carry more inherent value, since the pack-ins help add real value. I want to go back to the smartphone market one more time. The other part that doesn't really work is that range I talked about. There are tons of phone manufacturers that come in so many different SKUs. Home console gaming only have three companies in the game—[[Big Three Predictions 2025|The Big Three]]. Looking at the last and current gen, they all seem to have fallen into this triple tier model, which feels adopted from the handheld space.[^5] And all this phone and console model talk reminds me of a chart that Steve Jobs showed off at [Macworld Expo New York 1998](https://youtube.com/watch?v=6klXy-25u8c&t=914). Steve had just returned to Apple and the product lineup was a disaster. I mean, it was [messy](https://512pixels.net/projects/performa-month/). Apple even had [a home console of their own](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Pippin) back then. One of the first things Steve did was simplify the lineup. ![[250430_2x2 Mac Matrix.png]] > [!quote] Steve Jobs, Macworld Expo New York 1998 > "So we went back to Business School 101 and we said, "What do people want?" Well, they want two kinds of products. They want consumer products. Consumers want them in general, and education wants – for the most part – consumer products. And we need Pro Products, because our design and publishing market wants pro products. And some consumers do and some education do as well. > > And in each of those two categories, we need desktop and portable models. And what this told us was, if we had four great products, that's all we need. > > And as a matter of fact, if we only had four, we could put the A-Team on every single one of them. And if we only had four, we could turn them all every nine months instead of every 18 months. And if we only had four, we could be working on the next generation or two of each one as we're introducing the first generation. So that's what we decided to do—to focus on four great products." I feel like the console market has settled into a similar structure. It may not be so much a 2 x 2 grid for all the consoles on the market; more like a 2 x 3 column. Maybe? I'm not the best at tables and charts. It wouldn't be desktop and portable, but rather entry, standard, and premium with the target audiences being consumer and pro? That'd make the upper right and lower left of the chart be blank...I think you get what I mean though. Fun fact: The iMac was introduced during that event and had a starting price of $1299. Today's iMac has [a starting price of $1299](https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/04/05/the-pricing-stability-of-the-imac). There is a litany of economic and business factors that go into these prices. Inflation alone makes that statement null and void. But maintaining the price for the iMac (and [MacBook Air](https://sixcolors.com/post/2025/03/m4-macbook-air-review-am-i-blue/)) at certain point became a part of the identity of the product. It seems to me that the base price of the launch models of consoles is now a fundamental part of its identity. The price cannot drop for whatever reason these companies have. So to expand their reach and audience, they have to make models and offer bundles that are compelling. Each of The Big Three seem to be doing that through backward compatibility, cross-gen and cross-platform titles, offering scaled back hardware that still provides access to the catalog, and the all-mighty holiday bundle. Here at the end, I wanted to bring up a piece by Moises Taveras over at Digitaltrends, "[It’s beginning to feel like gaming isn’t for everyone](https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/its-beginning-to-feel-like-gaming-isnt-for-everyone/)." Taveras laments about the rising cost of consoles and how the hobby seems to be shifting out of reach for the likes of kids like his younger cousin or those from low-income housing like Taveras did. > "They weren’t always forfeit. Coming from a low-income family didn’t bar me from enjoying the fruits of the Nintendo 64, Game Boy (and its various incarnations) or the Wii growing up. When consoles were too much, there were at least handhelds like the PSP and the Nintendo DS that were infinitely more affordable and chock full of worlds ready to capture my imagination." I don't know if $100 is "infinitely" more affordable when comparing the price of say a Nintendo DS to a Nintendo Wii, but I do remember when it *felt* infinitely more expensive. I was always snagging games at garage sales, selling to GameStop, and just borrowing from friends. I got consoles later than all my friends. Taveras ends the piece on a down note with melancholic imagery of a window closing and a generation of potential players being shut out from the hobby, worlds, and games he and I love so very much. While the price of the Switch 2 is firmly in the middle of the entire console spectrum, I think there is more opportunity to enter and savor the world of video games than I ever had as a kid. Games are more accessible from free-to-play titles, to cross-platform experiences, and rich, rich back catalogs. The worlds unlocked just via the Switch 1 itself is astounding. We could rewrite Taveras ending with the current console scene in mind... > When new consoles were too much, there were at least low-end consoles like the Switch Lite and the Xbox Series S that were infinitely more affordable and chock full of worlds ready to capture my imagination. The price cuts may be gone, but I think the pathways into the hobby left behind more than make up for an exciting marketing beat mid-generation. All of this research reminds me how accessible and affordable gaming really is now in my life. Sure, that's not a problem for 30-year-old me with a budget and disposable income, but it does make me a little jealous of the kids. I think the video game ecosystem has grown into something better that is accessible and accommodating. I do miss those sweet Kevin Butler ads though. [^1]: What a great ad campaign. [^2]: Wow. That is holding much better than I expected. [^3]: Line so good, I used it [[Nintendo Switch 2 Reveal Thoughts & Impressions#The Silicon Tablet|twice]]. You can't stop me. It's my blog. [^4]: Now you'd be hard pressed to find one [under $125~](https://www.pricecharting.com/game/playstation-vita/playstation-tv). It's a powerhouse of a system and I should have bought a buttload of them when I had a chance. I [[Preserving the Vita – Upgrading My Vita TV|love]] [[Hot, Fresh Homebrewed Consoles#Death to the PS TV, Long Live the PS TV|mine]]. [^5]: So many Game Boy, DS, and PSP models. [^6]: [[Xbox Raises All the Prices|Ironic timing]] on my part.