AI data centers just locked regular gamers out of affordable consoles

Nintendo Switch 2 now heading to 500 dollars in US from September after earlier 450 launch.

High end Xbox Series X jumping to 800 dollars from August 1 after multiple prior hikes.

PlayStation 5 Pro sitting at 900 dollars.

PlayStation confirmed new games stop getting physical discs from January 2028, only digital after that.

Nvidia GeForce Now put 100 hour monthly playtime cap on paid tiers starting 2026, extra hours cost more.

Xbox cutting 3200 jobs and dumping five studios like Double Fine, Ninja Theory, Compulsion, Undead Labs and looking at Arkane.

One memory stick that was around 200 dollars range now often 400 to 600 plus for common kits, some higher, because data centers suck up supply.

Only Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron make almost all the memory chips worldwide.

They push high margin AI stuff over consumer grade for phones PCs and consoles.

OpenAI deals with Samsung and SK Hynix for up to 900000 DRAM wafers a month for Stargate, that can hit around 40 percent of global output.

AI data centers already eating huge share of world memory, some estimates near 70 percent of output.

One Nvidia AI chip needs 288 GB RAM equal to about 18 PS5s worth.

Console storage costs over 5 times higher than two years ago.

VRAM now up to 80 percent of high end graphics card cost.

PS5 May sales lowest since 2000, Xbox worst May ever.

Game makers will stick to older cheaper consoles with bigger user base, less reason for next gen.

Companies push more subscriptions, higher game prices maybe to 100 dollars, and digital only control so no used market.

Video from Mrwhosetheboss shows same chain: AI demand forces makers to choose data centers over gamers, future PS6 maybe 1000 dollars launch.