Video Game Console and Handheld launch prices adjusted for inflation – June 2025 (Full NA/Worldwide Release)
Video Game Console and Handheld launch prices adjusted for inflation – June 2025 (Full NA/Worldwide Release)
49 Comments
Great compilation. Struggling to read a bit tho
Man the 3do with road rash was still worth it
Classic Gameboy. The best handheld.
Good thing I got my series s 1 tb for 300.00
You suckers focusing on inflation always seem to be either ignorant or bad faith. Purchasing power, or value of the dollar, has decreased over time.
[https://www.statista.com/statistics/1032048/value-us-dollar-since-1640/](https://www.statista.com/statistics/1032048/value-us-dollar-since-1640/)
And cost of living has only increased.
This just reinforces my belief that the Gamecube was the absolute peak of Nintendo consoles.
I’m not blinded by nostalgia, I swear.
Is it a hot take to say that none of these, especially if new/sealed in box, should resell for more than these adjusted-for-inflation prices?
The 3DS and the Wii having the same launch price is wild, especially in the co text of how comparatively cheap all of Nintendo’s other handhelds were at launch
Ouya still overpriced at $137.71.
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No WonderSwan :(((
Mattel Hyperscan is peak
All of the current consoles are still being sold at the original price, apply inflation from last sold
Great poster, great to see
I expected Neo Geo to have been the most expensive. Goddam CD-i’s price was insane.
Great post! Is there a higher res version of the image available? Thanks!
Will Xbox be the first console to raise its price after it has been released for years?
I got the Nokia N-Gage in May 2004 for €100 with €100 on phone calls, so free with the line. Best buy ever!
Yeah launch PS3 at $600 retail is still silly to me to this day.
Inflation speed is insane though
I lived near an EB warehouse and they had a sale on 3DOs back in the day. I got one for $99 and a bunch of games really cheap. I’m so glad I did, because I wasn’t paying $700 for that system back in the day.
Where KFConsole
Snes, N64, Ps1 and Ps2, peak gaming era. So much gaming diversity. Finished games. Barely any remakes.
Hasn’t it been brought up enough that purchasing power isn’t the same it was back in the day? If wages had kept up with inflation then maybe we’d be looking at something of value, but this, while interesting with regard to some specific examples, is more of an exercise in pushing a rhetoric that doesn’t conform to real life
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I.. Huh.
Suddenly the switch 2 doesn’t seem so steep.
The godamn 3DS came out in 2011?? I still play mine!
Great value out of all those iterations of Game Boy.
Might be more interesting to see as a % of the median income at the time, because while adjusting for inflation it isn’t adjusting for wage stagnation.
Dreamcast was a great value.
These charts that show launch prices adjusted for income are misleading. Most console sales are made at much much lower prices not long after launch. [Did You know gaming](https://youtu.be/n025Gxn5GEM?t=1529) covered this in their recent Nintendo video.
Immediately looked for the Neo Geo.
Nintendo promotional slop to make us feel like the switch 2 isn’t overpriced. Nice try nintendo.
People’s buying power isn’t the same as it was. Most households are making the same amount or little more than they were 30 years ago.
Why oh why did my dad buy us the cdi
Since 90%+ of most of those consoles sales took place AFTER price drops, why don’t you adjust for inflation with the price drops?
Example: The PS2 only sold 9 million units at 300 bucks. It sold 160 million units and almost all of those were purchased for MUCH less then 300 bucks…
PS2 launched at 300 dollars. 1 year later it was 200, and the sales doubled. 1 year after that it was 180 dollars and it nearly tripled the first years sales numbers in that year. By the end of the consoles life it was 100 bucks.
For the PS1 only 2 million of their 102 million units sold, were sold at 300 bucks.
For the PS3 only 3 million units where sold at their launch price.
The adjusted for inflation thing is a myth that ignores the fact that almost all consoles used to drop in price by a huge amount very quickly, and that’s when the vast majority of people bought in.
Where are you getting your info from, OP? Your picture says the NES was $180, but it was only $99 and included two controllers and a game, as documented by the [Chicago Tribune](https://i.imgur.com/BZMadbj.png) in 1986. This would be just $289 when adjusted for inflation.
The MSRP you listed was for the deluxe set, which included 2 controllers, R.O.B, a light gun, and 2 games, but even this was sold for [as little as $140](https://imgur.com/a/GkEkpvO) at release.
I don’t have time to research any of the others, but I’d take the rest of the with a grain of salt given the NES is listed at almost double.
**Edit: OP blocked me, so I figured I’d add some extra info:**
Console launches were different back then. Nationwide simultaneous releases weren’t common until the 90s, and worldwide simultaneous releases have only been a thing for 10-15 years now.
The NES originally launched in the US at the end of 1985 in New York City, and in Los Angeles the next February. Nintendo was green to the US gaming market and wanted to test demand for their systems before rolling them out nationwide. That original test launch was then rebranded as a deluxe set due to it including so many extras, with an MSRP of $180, although a retail price of ~$150 was not uncommon.
When the nationwide release came a few months later, the standard SKU was for the console, 2 controllers, and a game, and sold for $99, as noted by the Chicago Tribune article I linked, but there’s also [this 1986 article from the NY Times](https://www.nytimes.com/1986/09/27/business/video-games-once-zapped-in-comeback.html) mentioning an MSRP for the standard bundle being $100.
Never met another person that owned a game.com. I remember going with my mom to the lower level of a Montgomery Ward for it too. Only game I owned was a version of Duke Nukem.
Gaming cheaper than ever but gamers hate seeing that. Both consoles and games. Nobody wants to pay more but it’s cool taking a step back and seeing how accessible gaming really is today.
Came to see Neo Geo’s outrageous price. Was not disappointed.
Dreamcast/PS2 era >
Wew, I own this entire list.
Couple of things you miss doing comparisons like this is a lot of consoles have significant price reductions, like the 3ds had a huge price drop very early on, very late in there cycles most consoles had very cost optimized versions could also show that. Basically starting price imo is not a good indicator of how much consoles really costs during there main time of being popular. It also does consider stuff like people’s disposable income available at given time, could also be interesting to know what the total addressable market is in every phase with the tital units sold.
You make it seem like most of these consoles were sold at their launch price lol. A vast majority of systems sell way below launch until this gen.
Point invalidated.
This video makes it easy to follow.
https://youtu.be/n025Gxn5GEM?si=6KFL-mRRISwV51jm
I get sad the longer i look at this photo. Gaming has been my only hobby since i was young. I wish i could relive that journey.
It’s wild to me that the CD-i was somehow the shittiest console in history and yet somehow how more than the damn neo geo… which was day one legendary and still is.
Man, the Hyperscan was so affordable! Should have been a hit!
Where are you getting your info from, OP? Your picture says the NES was $180, but it was only $99 and included two controllers and a game, as documented by the Chicago Tribune in 1986. This would be just $289 when adjusted for inflation.
The MSRP you listed was for the deluxe set, which included 2 controllers, R.O.B, a light gun, and 2 games, but even this was sold for as little as $140 at release.
I don’t have time to research any of the others, but I’d take the rest of the with a grain of salt given the NES is listed at almost double.
Edit: OP blocked me, so I figured I’d add some extra info:
Console launches were different back then. Nationwide simultaneous releases weren’t common until the 90s, and worldwide simultaneous releases have only been a thing for 10-15 years now.
The NES originally launched in the US at the end of 1985 in New York City, and in Los Angeles the next February. Nintendo was green to the US gaming market and wanted to test demand for their systems before rolling them out nationwide. That original test launch was then rebranded as a deluxe set due to it including so many extras, with an MSRP of $180, although a retail price of ~$150 was not uncommon.
When the nationwide release came a few months later, the standard SKU was for the console, 2 controllers, and a game, and sold for $99, as noted by the Chicago Tribune article I linked, but there’s also this 1986 article from the NY Times mentioning an MSRP for the standard bundle being $100.
UPDATE: I wish I could update the image, but the NES was $200 at launch which is $585.39 today. In a future post I’ll update.
What version of inflation did you use