A new report claims that AMD plans to raise prices on all of their GPUs due to AI demand. However, could this new price hike also impact the PS6 and Steam Machine prices when they launch?
AMD to Raise Prices on GPUs Due to AI Demand
Another day, another story about how AI is going to ruin our lives. Jokes aside, a new report from VideoCardz claims that AMD is going to be raising the cost of their GPUs. The reason? According to a memo the company sent out internally, it’s due to the explosion of AI demand. The leaked message from AMD first surfaced on the Chinese Board Channel forum.
In the posts, it was revealed that AMD reportedly plans to raise the price for all of their GPU models across the board. Reportedly, the company had to eat the costs of rising prices earlier this year but is now planning to make customers pay it with an upcoming price hike. However, the report doesn’t state when the new GPU pricing will go into effect.
This, of course, is a pretty big deal for the games industry, as almost everything uses AMD GPUs. In fact, both Sony PlayStation and Xbox have recently made multi-year deals with the company to use their hardware. Only the Switch 2 partnered with Nvidia, so they won’t be impacted by this. However, the larger concern is whether this upcoming surge in GPU pricing will also impact gaming consoles, which are already drowned by record-high costs.
Is AMD’s GPU Price Hike Why Steam Machine Prices Haven’t Been Revealed Yet?
As we’ve previously reported, there is a lot of discussion currently swirling around the Steam Machine price. More specifically, Valve has not given customers a price range, which has kicked the online gaming community into complete overdrive with speculation. Is the Steam Machine going to be expensive like a PC? Or will it be priced like a console at around $500?
What’s interesting is Valve said they couldn’t give a Steam Machine price point just yet due to “changing economic situations.” Could this be what they were talking about? After all, Valve’s new console uses AMD GPUs. And depending on how much the price hike is (assuming it’s true), that would have a substantial impact on what Valve could price the Steam Machine at. This might explain why they are waiting until 2026 to announce its official retail pricing.
Could the PS6 and Next-Gen Xbox Also See Higher Prices?
In August, Sony PlayStation implemented a major price increase on all PS5 consoles due to “changing economic markets” as well. The base PS5, which originally sold for $399 at launch in 2020, now retails at a staggering $499. So with AMD GPUs also rumored to be getting a major price hike soon, could we see console prices go up even further?
While PS6 and next-gen Xbox are reportedly launching in late 2027 or 2028, it will be interesting to see if this also impacts the new consoles as well. If the current trend continues, gaming could soon start pricing casual players out of the hobby with its exploding costs. Lastly, it’s important to note that AMD’s price increase has not been confirmed by the company yet. So take this with a hefty grain of salt.
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