Here’s How Tariffs Affect the Price of Games
Contrary to what the White House claims, we consumers actually pay for all of these tariffs. Companies across industries have stopped selling or raised prices over the past month or so, and the chaos continues.
It doesn’t help that the actual tariff situation is so unstable. President Donald Trump continued to raise tariffs, particularly against China, up to 145% . The administration then reached an agreement with China to suspend most tariffs until August , but some tariffs still remain in effect. So companies are scrambling to find the best way to protect their profits and shareholder values—part of that strategy involves increasing costs.
Games are no exception to this reality. Many gaming companies manufacture their components in China, which means their devices are subject to tariffs if they are shipped to the US. This is the situation now with the largest gaming companies.
Microsoft
Xboxes are obviously a valuable asset. On May 1, Microsoft raised prices on all Xbox consoles and some Xbox accessories, including controllers and headsets. This price increase was actually quite steep, with both the standard and digital Series X models jumping $100, and the 2TB model jumping a whopping $130. On April 30, the Series X with 2TB of internal storage will cost you $600. You now have $730 left.
Games aren’t completely exempt here either, but the news is a little better: Existing games will keep the same suggested retail price as before the price increase, and some new games this holiday season will cost $80.
To be fair, Microsoft doesn’t directly link the tariffs to the price increase, but instead refers to “market conditions and rising development costs.” However, given that tariffs are the driving force behind current market conditions, it seems safe to assume that Microsoft will offset some of the increased costs due to these import tariffs.
Sony
Sony also raised the prices of its flagship consoles , but only in some markets.
The company has increased prices on some PS5s in Europe, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. The price increase, as well as which console received it, depends on the region: in Europe, for example, the PS5 Digital Edition went up by only 50 euros, but the PS5 disc drive remained the same. On the other hand, Australia and New Zealand were less fortunate: both countries saw rising prices. In New Zealand, the PS5 has the highest suggested retail price on the list at NZ$949.95 (or roughly US$560 at the moment).
However, that doesn’t mean those of us in the US are immune to PS5 price increases. According to The Verge , Sony says it expects the tariffs to cost the company 100 billion yen ($681 million) and is considering both moving production to the US and raising costs for consumers.
Sony is a big company, so this could lead to higher prices for other products besides the PS5. However, the lack of a clear answer on which products will be affected means that Sony could raise the prices of the PS5 in the future.
Nintendo
Here’s the good news: Nintendo hasn’t increased the suggested retail price for the Switch 2 or any of its existing Switch consoles. The Switch 2 remains $450, or $500 if you buy the Mario Kart World bundle.
However, Nintendo responded to the tariffs differently. First, the company has suspended pre-orders for the Switch 2 in the US and Canada “to assess the potential impact of tariffs and changing market conditions.” We already know that Switch prices ended up staying the same, but just as Nintendo picked a new pre-order date , it also announced a new price increase for Switch 2 accessories.
The Pro controller now costs $15 more than before, and the Joy-Con 2 controllers cost just $5 more, but are now a staggering $95. The Switch 2 camera also costs $55, although it originally cost $50. The rest of the Switch 2 accessories remain the same .
PC games
PC games are a more complex beast than console games. Unless you opt for a gaming laptop, you’ll likely want to build your own computer, which will require purchasing a number of parts, many of which are made in China. Luckily, computers, phones and PC cases were exempt from the full 145% tariff, but not other PC components.
According to PCMag , most PC components haven’t been hit that hard by tariffs yet—at least when it comes to April prices. The publication noted that PC cases, processors and memory kits have risen in price slightly (10, 15 and 3 dollars, respectively), while the price of a liquid cooling unit has actually dropped by 60 dollars.
However, they found an alarming rise in prices when it came to one particularly important component: graphics cards. In January, the MSI SHADOW GeForce RTX 5070 Ti video card cost $750. In April it cost $840, up $90. PCMag found a similar trend for other popular graphics cards, with price increases ranging from $250 to $750.
Graphics cards were in high demand long before Trump’s election, largely due to their use in artificial intelligence processing . Increased tariffs now only increase pressure on this category of goods.
Gaming laptops haven’t seen much success yet, but Razer was one of the companies that suspended direct sales in the US last month.
You can’t predict the future
This is exactly the situation the market is in now, but it is unknown what will change in the coming days, weeks and months. Tomorrow Sony may raise prices for PS5 in the US; Nintendo may decide that the OG Switch should now cost more too.
Nothing is certain, but it seems reasonable to assume one thing: the prices you see today are the best in the near future. If you’re waiting for the Xbox Series X to drop in price or crossing your fingers that Mario Kart World won’t actually cost $80 at launch, you probably won’t be happy about the future.
Anything is possible, but given the situation with tariffs and global markets, prices seem to only be rising. Staying the same is probably the best we can hope for, unless you want to try your hand at the used car market.