On September 1, Nintendo console prices rise again. The Switch 2 goes from $449.99 to $499.99 in the United States, Canada and Europe. This isn’t an isolated case. Since the start of the year, console prices have moved at Valve, at Microsoft, and to a lesser extent at Sony. One single cause comes up every time: memory.
Data centers (server farms that train and run artificial intelligence models) buy DRAM (the working memory used by electronic chips) and NAND (flash storage chips) in massive quantities. That leaves less for the rest of the industry. Kami Labs already told this story on the PC side, with DDR5 RAM prices skyrocketing and the RTX 5090 going from $1,999 to $4,930. This time, the bill arrives in the living room.
Steam Deck, Xbox Series, Switch 2: all three machines have seen their price climb within a few months. The English-language press found a name for this phenomenon, RAMageddon. Here is the breakdown, machine by machine, with the official dates and figures.
Steam Deck: Valve console prices climb by half
Valve was among the first to move. The Steam Deck maker announced a price hike, citing global memory and storage shortages driven by the rapid expansion of AI data centers. The 1TB OLED model climbs by nearly 50%.
The Steam Deck OLED 512GB goes from $550 to $790 in the United States. In Europe, it climbs from €570 to €780. The 1TB model follows the same trend: from $650 to $950, and from €680 to €920. Each market absorbs its own hike, listed in the table below.
Valve justified the decision by explaining that the new prices « reflect the current state of component costs and other global logistical challenges across the industry as a whole. » One detail is worth noting. Valve also states that « Steam Deck itself hasn’t changed. » The machine is identical. Only its price has moved.
This hike comes as Valve is preparing its next hardware. Steam Machine and Steam Frame, the 2026 window is approaching, and the question of future console prices already applies to these two devices.
Xbox: over $100 added to Series console prices
Microsoft followed on June 25, 2026. Xbox Wire published an official statement titled « Updated XBOX Console Prices, » signed by Team XBOX.
That same day, Variety summed up the news in an article by Jennifer Maas: « Xbox Hikes X and S Consoles Price by More Than $100, Discontinues 2 TB Model. » The hike therefore exceeds $100 on both machines, and the high-end 2TB storage version disappears from the lineup.
The site Pure Xbox detailed the prices by region on August 3, 2026, in an article by Craig Reid, covering the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia. Microsoft backed the hike with a figure-based explanation: « console storage and memory prices have increased by more than 2.5x and we expect another doubling by the fall of 2027. » Xbox console prices haven’t finished climbing.
Sony didn’t escape the wave either. The PlayStation 5 also saw its price rise in 2026, in the same movement, even though no available source details a precise figure for now.
Switch 2: the hike announced in May arrives in September
Nintendo had given three months’ notice. Nintendo Life reported, on August 13, 2026, in an article by Liam Doolan, that in-store demo kiosks were already displaying the upcoming hike. The article’s subtitle sums it all up: « Nintendo announced the new prices in May. »
On September 1, 2026, the Switch 2 goes from $449.99 to $499.99 in the United States, Canada and Europe. In Japan, the hike has already been in effect since May 25, 2026. Nintendo console prices are therefore climbing in two stages, four months apart between markets.
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa confirmed the hike on May 11, 2026. He attributed it to memory component costs, exchange rates and oil prices. The AI-driven memory shortage remains the main factor. The console keeps selling regardless. By June 30, 2026, the Switch 2 had passed 23.68 million units sold, a total higher than the GameCube’s (21.74 million) in about thirteen months. In July 2026 in the United States, sales nonetheless fell to less than half of July 2025’s figures. The worst month for console hardware sales in the United States since the Covid era.
| Machine | Market | Before | After | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steam Deck OLED 512GB | United States | $550 | $790 | 2026 |
| Steam Deck OLED 512GB | Canada | CA$690 | CA$1,129 | 2026 |
| Steam Deck OLED 512GB | Europe | €570 | €780 | 2026 |
| Steam Deck OLED 512GB | United Kingdom | £480 | £649 | 2026 |
| Steam Deck OLED 512GB | Australia | AU$900 | AU$1,200 | 2026 |
| Steam Deck OLED 1TB | United States | $650 | $950 | 2026 |
| Steam Deck OLED 1TB | Canada | CA$820 | CA$1,350 | 2026 |
| Steam Deck OLED 1TB | Europe | €680 | €920 | 2026 |
| Steam Deck OLED 1TB | United Kingdom | £570 | £780 | 2026 |
| Xbox Series X/S | United States | 2025 price | +$100 minimum, 2TB model discontinued | June 25, 2026 |
| Nintendo Switch 2 | United States, Canada, Europe | $449.99 | $499.99 | September 1, 2026 |
| Nintendo Switch 2 | Japan | price in yen | hike already in effect | May 25, 2026 |
Console prices haven’t finished climbing
One figure sums up the situation upstream. The contract price (the rate negotiated between chipmakers and industrial buyers, outside the retail market) of consumer-grade DRAM rose 89% in the second quarter of 2026. Data centers absorb a growing share of global production, and the rest of the industry, consoles included, shares what’s left.
This trend is already hitting PC components. NVIDIA’s $2,500 RTX Spark illustrates the same mechanism hitting the Steam Deck and Xbox: less memory available, prices climbing in a cascade across the whole chain.
Microsoft said so in black and white. Another doubling of memory and storage costs is expected by fall 2027. Nothing, for now, points to a turnaround. Console prices will remain a topic of conversation for a long time to come.
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