PS5 Pro Costs $900 Now – Are Mid-Range Gamers Being Left Behind?

Gaming has always asked something of your wallet. But what's happening in 2026 feels different, and honestly, a little alarming. PS5 Pro is so expensive now, and mid-range gamers are already feeling the frustration. Hardware prices are going up, game prices are going up, and the graphical demands of modern titles keep climbing. At some point, these three things collide in a way that starts pushing gamers like you and me out of the hobby, and we might already be closer to that point than most studios want to admit.

Where PS5 Pro and Console Prices Stand Right Now

Sony increased the price of its PlayStation hardware in April 2026, and the price difference is not small:

A PS5 Pro now costs $899.99 in the US and £789.99 in the UK. That is, before you buy a single game, most of which now launch at $70 to $80. For the PS5 Pro, mid-range gamers are looking at nearly $1,000 before buying a single game.

I think that's a problem because prices have gone up a lot in a short time, and the games releasing at these higher prices don't always feel worth the extra cost.

But console players are not the only ones feeling it. PC gaming is arguably in an even worse position right now. Laptop prices are expected to rise by up to 35% in 2026, according to industry analysts, and RAM costs have already surged to 3 times what they were before.

Entry-level laptops that used to be priced around $400-$500 are now pushing past that range. For anyone trying to build or upgrade a gaming PC right now, the timing could not be worse.

The AI Factor And Why This Isn't Fully Gaming's Fault

One of the main reasons hardware keeps getting more expensive is that games keep demanding more powerful hardware. Each new generation pushes better graphics and bigger worlds, which, of course, require more powerful PCs and consoles to run.

As a result, hardware prices go up, consoles become more expensive, and many players struggle to keep up. It creates a cycle where high-end users benefit, while budget and mid-range gamers are slowly left behind.

But what I find fascinating, and a little frustrating, is that a lot of this isn't even gaming's doing. The explosion of AI has created massive demand for the same components that go into gaming hardware: GPUs, RAM, and high-bandwidth memory. When demand spikes across multiple industries simultaneously and supply cannot keep up, prices go up for everyone.

This means, when you go to upgrade your GPU and find it costs more than it did a few years ago, part of that extra cost has nothing to do with gaming at all. I don't think enough people in the gaming space are connecting these dots clearly. Players deserve to know why prices are rising and what factors are driving those increases, especially when many of them have little to do with gaming itself.

And the truth is that most people do enjoy impressive visuals. Seeing a game world rendered in stunning detail is part of the experience, and nobody is pretending otherwise. Games like Ghost of Yotei, the latest God of War reveal, and Forza Horizon 6 look breathtaking, and that contributes meaningfully to how they feel to play.

Graphics can grab attention, but they can't carry a game on their own. When you are spending $70 or more on a title that also requires expensive hardware to run, you expect the gameplay to match. For me, the games worth paying for are the ones that stay fun and memorable long after the hype dies down, not just the ones with the best trailers.

What Mid-Range Gamers Should Do?

The people I feel for most in all of this are mid-range gamers, and I count myself in that group when it comes to mindset. These are players using a three-year-old GPU, a decent laptop, or a last-gen console; they are not ready to be replaced yet. The thing is, not everyone can or wants to spend $650 on a console every few years, plus $80 per game. They still want to enjoy gaming, but the cost of staying in the hobby keeps going up.

Gaming studios just need to actually care about it. Games like Warframe run on almost anything and still look great because the developers treated performance as a real priority from the start. The choice exists. Studios just don't always make it.

If you're a mid-range gamer feeling squeezed right now, don't panic-buy. Don't let the pressure make you overspend. Hardware prices won't stay this high forever, even if it feels that way today.

In the meantime, support the games and studios that actually bother to optimize. Buy it if you enjoy it, recommend it to friends, and talk about it online. Companies pay attention to what players spend money and attention on. Right now, many studios see that pushing graphics harder can bring in sales. The only way that changes is if mid-range gamers start making noise about who's being left out of it.