PlayStation, Xbox gamers bracing themselves for price increase on games

It is safe to say that the world is a little bit scary right now and big changes are ahead.

With gaming acting as an escape to millions of people across the world, it seems as though even this form of media is being affected as a result of recent tariffs.

Upcoming games such as Grand Theft Auto VI could now be more expensive.

According to Mat Piscatella, executive director & video game industry analyst at Circana, a proposed tariff on imports from Mexico to the U.S. could affect the price of video games.

More specifically, prices will be set to increase and so we can expect to see a decrease in the amount of physical games sold in the United States.

This is, of course, bad news for Xbox and PlayStation users.

Taking to Bluesky, Piscatella said the following:

"With 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico on the way, I can see a sharp downtick in the number of disc-based games that get released physically in the US, as much of that production infrastructure is in Mexico.”

"If they do get made, I expect higher prices both [physical and digital].

"I would, were this to happen, anticipate digital MSRPs to increase to remain at price parity with physical, but who knows. In any case, none of this is good for the physical video game market."

However, he also believes that with “significant investment”, production could be moved to the U.S. but "annual US physical video game software spending is now half what it was in 2021 and declining rapidly. And this also wouldn't help when it comes to costs."

In summary, it seems like a sticky situation and with no easy way out, it seems as though this could be yet another nail in the coffin when it comes to physical media.

The comments to Piscatella’s thread seemingly agree with the disheartening news.

“This seems, sadly, rather plausible,” one comment read.

Another said: “Really just a question now of how much prices are going to rise as opposed to if they will.

Perhaps a rude awakening for gamers who thought costs for the hobby were already rising too fast.

Given the tariffs may come or go, companies will just price in that uncertainty going forward.”