Do you want the bad news, or the worse news first? There's no good way to do this, so why don't we just hear both at the same time: game hardware got much more expensive in 2025, and we should prepare for similar price hikes in 2026. "If there's one way that cloud will ever get off the ground in a meaningful way, it would be to make dedicated gaming devices completely unavailable and/or unaffordable," Piscatella adds grimly. "Going to be one rocky ride in 2026." Game hardware is now $200 more expensive on average than it was in 2019, according to industry analyst Microsoft says the next Xbox console "will be a very premium and high-end curated experience," and you can see "some of the thinking" in the Xbox Ally handheld Despite fans' initial cries to "drop the price," Switch 2 "hardware was appropriately priced," actually, thinks former Nintendo icon Reggie Fils-Aimé "I would like to stress that Nintendo in 2025 RAISED the price of the 8 year old Switch 1 from US$300 to US$340 in the US," Toto says. Jeez, don't remind me. "Would anybody be shocked if Nintendo followed that up with a price increase for Switch 2 next year?" If it does, there will be unavoidable consequences for the growth-obsessed industry. "November spending on physical video games in the US was the lowest for a November month in tracked history," Piscatella says. "I expect next year to break that record. 2027 (assuming new generation consoles appear that year) will likely see further reductions." Happy new year to you, too. Game hardware is now $200 more expensive on average than it was in 2019, according to industry analyst: "It could potentially be catastrophic."