PS5 Users Safe as Hardware Shortage Could Force Xbox Price Hike

With recent demand causing the cost of hardware to go up, PS5 users may not be at risk of paying higher prices.

Last week we reported on impending RAM shortages potentially causing hardware prices to surge, with Xbox reportedly preparing to have another price hike to its consoles, the third in a year.

It appears that some smart thinking from Sony may have saved users from being affected by these shortages though.

Hardware leaker Moore’s Law Is Dead reports that Sony bought up a large supply of GDDR6 RAM while the prices were low, effectively allowing it to miss the incoming scarcity.

“From what I’ve heard, Sony planned ahead, bought up gobs of RAM near the bottom of the pricing, and thus they should be fine for months,” Moore’s Law Is Dead said in a video posted on 21 November.

“They have plenty of GDDR6, at least that’s what I’m told. Prices could go up eventually; I could see that happening next year… but there is a reason Sony is cutting PlayStation 5 pricing for Black Friday.

“They aren’t just doing this as some extreme move or because sales are bad. They can afford to do it; apparently, they are not worried about the RAM shortage, at least in the short to mid term.”

Sony

AI Behind RAM shortages

The reason for this current RAM shortage we’re experiencing is due to high demand following OpenAI (the company behind ChatGPT) gobbling up most of the supply.

The company recently signed a long-term deal with companies like Samsung and SK Hynix to source memory chips that will see it purchase up to around 40% of the world’s total DRAM supply.

While PlayStation may not need to raise its prices thanks to this quick thinking from Sony, it appears that Microsoft users may have to suffer the costs.

“[Microsoft] didn't plan ahead at all, apparently,” Moore's Law is Dead says. “If you still want an Xbox for some reason at their current pricing, those prices could go up soon, or supply could just entirely dry up because multiple sources of mine have apparently been warned by sales reps at Microsoft that this is going to affect the Xbox Series consoles very, very soon.

"Sooner rather than later.”

If that wasn’t already bad enough, Xbox consoles have already suffered from two price hikes this year; one back in May, and another for customers located in the United States in September.