Sony Implements Second Global PS5 Price Hike Amid AI-Driven Chip Crunch

Console prices are supposed to fall: the PS2 dropped from $299 at launch (2000) to $199 by 2004. The current reversal echoes the 2011 HDD shortage after Thailand’s floods, when PC prices spiked as factories went offline; only this time the squeeze is structural, not temporary. Three long-term forces converge: (1) AI datacenters bidding up high-bandwidth memory, diverting output from consumer chips; (2) geopolitical choke points—tariffs, the Iran–Qatar flare-up, Ukraine—re-fragmenting supply chains much like the 1973 oil crisis reordered energy markets; and (3) the twilight of Moore’s Law making each incremental node pricier. If these pressures persist, mass-market gaming hardware could follow smartphones into four-figure territory, shrinking the addressable audience and nudging the industry toward cloud subscriptions or PC-style upgrade cycles. On a century scale, it hints at a plateau in the 40-year trend of ever-cheaper personal computing, with entertainment electronics becoming luxury goods rather than ubiquitous appliances.