If you were on the fence about buying a shiny new console or waiting for the new hotness, you shouldn’t hold out much hope for the future of gaming hardware. The price of RAM and SSD storage has become so untenable that current consoles could get more expensive while future devices will only get further delayed.
This is becoming clear across the board. AI data centers have sapped up RAM and NAND supply, so much so that even major tech giants can’t easily source memory anymore. Over the weekend, Bloomberg reported, based on several anonymous sources close to Nintendo, that the company was currently “contemplating” raising the cost of its $450 Switch 2. Less than a year ago, Nintendo fans were complaining about how the Japanese game maker’s latest handheld console cost $150 more than the original Switch.
Japanese investors were already antsy about the skyrocketing price of DRAM (dynamic random access memory) and how that was impacting profits on Nintendo’s latest hardware. Nintendo’s share price has already taken hits over the last few months despite Switch 2 sales numbers remaining positive throughout the end of 2025. Analysts told IGN that the sequel Switch was still selling well despite slowing sales numbers compared to the handheld’s June launch. Nintendo spiked the cost of the original Switch and Switch OLED in 2025 due to Trump’s tariffs. It kept the Switch 2 price steady while it hiked costs on peripherals instead.
Valve’s upcoming Steam Machine is also caught up in the morass of the ongoing RAM shortage. Valve delayed the PC/console hybrid and said it had to “revisit” its release date and price point. It doesn’t seem like Valve has managed to source more RAM for its hardware, either.
The makers of Half-Life slapped its Steam Deck OLED listings with an “out of stock” sticker on its store page since last month. On Sunday, Valve published a note to the page reading, “Steam Deck OLED may be out of stock intermittently in some regions due to memory and storage shortages. The Steam Deck LCD 256GB is no longer in production, and once sold out will no longer be available.”
Current-gen consoles will rely more on upscaling
Before the RAM situation worsened, Valve had hinted its console could cost close to a PC of similar specs, which could have meant a price tag as high as $800. Valve would have to heavily subsidize its hardware to bring it anywhere close to affordable. Nintendo has to be far more price conscious than either Sony or Microsoft (especially with Xbox, which is in freefall). The company built its brand on its lower-end hardware that can outshine the competition thanks to exclusive first-party games from beloved franchises like Mario, Zelda, and Pokémon.
Gamers may have to buckle down with current hardware. Bloomberg also cited more anonymous sources when it claimed Sony could push the long-rumored PlayStation 6 launch all the way to 2028 and 2029. That may not be as big of a bummer as it sounds. Despite the PS5 and Xbox Series S/X having launched in 2020, they still have more to give thanks to additional software performance enhancements. The Switch 2 is proving itself graphically capable despite its lower-end GPU specs and minimal power draw. That’s mostly thanks to Nvidia’s DLSS (deep learning super sampling) upscaling. There are mounting rumors that suggest Sony could launch a PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) update that could drastically enhance performance—especially on PS5 Pro units.
The PlayStation 5 may be just over five years old, but it’s far from nearing the end of its life. Sony is launching a monitor, fight stick, and—potentially even an enhanced remote/game streaming player to keep the PS5 hardware rolling. The Switch 2 now has more accessories, like the Virtual Boy recreation, available to start out 2026. The best option players have now is to stick with what they have and hope that when the AI bubble pops, it doesn’t take the world economy with it.
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