We are witnessing the death of the games console | MattCASmith

MattCASmith

We are witnessing the death of the games console

2026-08-09

Technology,

Business

The whole concept of a video games console is on its last legs. It’s been a long time coming, but a combination of technological advances, market conditions, and – more than anything – business decisions have led us here, and I really believe the days of PlayStation and Xbox may be numbered.

Brands like Xbox and PlayStation could soon become relics of the past

Remembering the golden era

PC devotees might argue that it was only a matter of time until Sony and Microsoft found themselves in this predicament, but I disagree. Just take a look back at where we came from. The whole concept of a games console was that it was an easy way to play. You bought a box, plugged it into your TV, inserted a disc, and played. In exchange for locking in to a manufacturer’s ecosystem, you usually got a decent discount on the hardware itself.

Until recent years, games were always distributed on discs, cartridges, or cards. They were designed specifically for your console, so you knew they’d work without the technical tinkering that’s often necessary on PC, and you could line them up on a shelf to play indefinitely into the future.

Nothing forced any of this to change. No technology or regulation rendered discs obsolete. Yet in recent generations we’ve seen the steady erosion of the very characteristics that made games consoles a viable product and a worthy alternative to PC gaming – and it’s mostly the manufacturers’ fault.

The missing rival<br>You'll notice that I'll focus very much on Sony and Microsoft in this post. I'm aware that Nintendo is out there with the Switch, but I won't go into detail because: one, I'm not as familiar with their output; and two, they're doing something quite different and focusing on gameplay over graphics. Who knows, maybe they'll be there to mop up the mess the other two leave behind.

Diminishing generational returns

The value of investing in a console generation has diminished. The current consoles – the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X – arrived with marginal graphical improvements over their predecessors, and you could argue that there hasn’t been a notable wow factor since the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 heralded the advent of HD gaming. Inter-generational leaps have become shuffles, eliminating that “must-have” feeling around new launches.

Then there are the games. Back in the day, popular series used to see several releases per generation. But games have become so complex that they take many years to make, sometimes skipping generations entirely. The upcoming Grand Theft Auto VI will be the first new game in the series since 2013, while fans of The Elder Scrolls are still waiting on a follow-up to 2011’s Skyrim.

Such long gaps used to be unthinkable – both series saw two releases in the Xbox 360 era. But now the waits are so long that some fans who were still at school when the last game in their favourite series came out are now adults with their own kids. It leads gamers to question the value of the consoles themselves. Why invest in the hardware when the next game in my favourite series could be another generation – and another upgrade – down the road?

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Unattractive price tags

Prices are also beginning to weigh down the other side of the value equation. Historically, consoles were the cheaper option compared to PC gaming, and prices fell over the course of each generation. As the years progressed, the lower price of entry and growing library of games would entice more gamers to enter the console’s ecosystem, even as the next console cycle approached.

However, both Sony and Microsoft have actually increased the prices of their current consoles since their launch. In the UK, the PlayStation 5 became £90 more expensive earlier in 2026. Not to be outdone, Microsoft has just spiked the price of the Xbox Series X from £500 to £670. It’s unprecedented.

Reports attribute these changes to a combination of post-pandemic inflation, the RAM crunch triggered by investment in AI infrastructure, and internal business pressures. And the trend only looks set to continue, with rumours that the PlayStation 6 could cost upwards of £750. That’s a bar to entry that would be difficult for many to justify – especially when you consider that a similarly-priced PC is a multi-purpose machine, useful beyond gaming.

Tightening market control

Perhaps you could justify the investment in a more expensive console with fewer games if you could get a decent deal on the games themselves, and treat them as a long-term investment that you could return to in future. Unfortunately, the final nail in the games console’s coffin is manufacturers’ current...