Hello, followers! Today, we’re diving into how the slowdown in chip improvements is impacting the cost and redesigns of game consoles. The good old days of cheaper, upgraded consoles might be a thing of the past.

Once upon a time, I would wait a couple of years to buy a new game console. I wanted a solid library and to see which console would dominate in terms of exclusive games and support. But mostly, I relied on two factors: consoles got cheaper over time, often with cool redesigns that improved their look and performance.

Now, that pattern has mostly vanished. The last notable price drop was back in 2016 with the PS4 Slim shifting from $349 to $299. Since then, we’ve even seen prices increase—like the Nintendo Switch OLED, PlayStation 5’s slim version, and the Xbox Series S and X—mainly due to inflation, supply chain issues during the pandemic, shifting trade policies, and corporations prioritizing profits.

The real game-changer? The death of Moore’s Law, which predicted that chip transistors would double every two years, enabling constant tech breakthroughs. As chip manufacturing technology slows down, processors and GPUs can’t improve as rapidly, limiting both performance gains and the scope for meaningful redesigns in consoles.

Moore’s Law isn’t really a law—more a handy observation that once allowed chips to become smaller, faster, and more efficient. But today, progress has slowed, and manufacturing has become more costly and complex. For game consoles, this means fewer upgrades in power or size, fewer significant redesigns, and less chance of seeing sharp price drops. Instead, we see incremental improvements and cost increases.

Historically, console companies shrank chips (die shrink) to create sleeker hardware, cut costs, and reduce heat. Think of the PlayStation 2: smaller chips led to lighter, cheaper, and more energy-efficient versions. This trend continued through the Xbox 360 and early PlayStation 4 models. But now, such improvements are rarer—and more expensive—making meaningful redesigns less feasible, and price increases more common.

Consequently, consumers may face higher prices or minimal improvements, similar to recent PC GPU and CPU patterns, where new models often cost more but don’t outperform previous generations significantly. Even waiting for discounts might no longer be a reliable strategy, as the market is shifting.

Just last week, I pre-ordered a Nintendo Switch 2—my first on launch day. It’s clear that the technology won’t improve much in the near future, and prices might even go up.

And that’s a wrap! The era of gradually cheaper and better game consoles is coming to an end, thanks to the slowdown in technological progress. Stay tuned for more tech insights, friends!