A used PS5 Pro will run you around $1,400.
As the release of Grand Theft Auto 6 approaches, players are scrambling to maximize gameplay with the most advanced consoles on the market. Advertised as PS5 Pro Enhanced, the game comes as Sony faces a shortage of its popular console. With the AI boom consuming the world’s silicon, Sony has struggled to maintain its production cycles, leading to a global shortage of the console that is likely to last well into 2027.
Released in 2024, Sony is now pricing its advanced console $200 higher than its initial asking price, listing it at a whopping $899.99. However, you could end up paying well over this already inflated price tag if you’re looking to hold onto a new console until the end of the year. As it stands, traders and merchants take the laws of supply and demand to heart. GameStop, for example, is currently listing a used PlayStation 5 Pro for an eye-watering $1,399.99, half a grand over its MSRP. Similar markups can be found across the resale market.
Sony has tried to dampen these markups where it can. In Japan, for example, the company introduced a lottery system linked to playing time minimums, presumably to rein in a reseller market that was quickly spiraling out of control. However, with no end to the shortage in sight, inflated prices are only likely to persist.
An escape market
The PS5 Pro is indicative of broader trends in the consumer tech market. The data centers are disappearing high-bandwidth memory, a key component to quickly deliver data to advanced processors. The cascading effect has seen the production of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), which is needed for consumer devices like the PS5 Pro, lag, creating shortages. An August 2026 JP Morgan report predicted that by the end of the year, the price of DRAM worldwide would have increased 400 percent since the PS5 Pro was released in 2024.
These trends are likely to persist. In September 2026, German gaming publication Playfront reported that internal memos between Sony and its distribution partners stated that the PS5 Pro shortage “would persist from early 2027 at the earliest.” Some expect the component limitations to persist well beyond next year, with some predicting that the RAM crisis could persist until 2030.
GameStop is just one of several sellers trying to squeeze every last drop out of the PlayStation 5 Pro shortage. Best Buy, for example, currently sells the console for over $1,500. Walmart, meanwhile, is selling an open box version of the console for $1,200. These prices are largely in line with the resale market, with prices on eBay regularly topping $1,100. For what it’s worth, GameStop owns about 10 percent of the online marketplace, and attempted a $56 billion unsolicited takeover of the company earlier this year.
The exorbitant prices sparked by Sony’s PlayStation 5 Pro crisis are quickly becoming the norm for most consumer tech products. According to a September 2026 report by The Economist, the consumer price index for “computer software and accessories” increased by 31 percent. In addition to the PS5 Pro increase of $200, PlayStation 5s increased by $150, about 30 percent. Such trends could prove catastrophic for the industry. This month, sales of video game hardware hit a 13-year low.
Is it worth the price?
Before splurging on GameStop’s PS5 Pro, you might want to ask if the upgrade is worth the money. Capable of running 4K graphics at 60 frames per second, the PS5 Pro’s enhanced visuals look great on a high-end TV. Add 2 TB of memory, an improved GPU and special features like ray tracing, and the PS5 Pro delivers tangible advantages over its predecessor.
The biggest advancement is its PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) image upscaler, which uses AI to enhance image pixels. Although a bit bad at its first release, PlayStation made an improved edition, PSSR Enhanced, which is now the standard setting of the console. However, like many of the Pro’s most compelling features, PSSR only works for games labeled PS5 Pro Enhanced, such as GTA VI. To date, however, you and a friend could probably count the number of players who naturally use the new PSSR on your hands. Whether these visual upgrades meaningfully change the gaming experience is debatable, however.
Sony’s latest PS5 update may begin to narrow the gap between the two consoles. In an October 2026 blog post, Sony said it would bring a similar AI upscaling functionality known as Quick Spectral Super Resolution (QSSR) to the PS5. Although not described by Sony as the “gold standard” of PSSR, QSSR brings image and stability improvements to the PS5.
Overall, the PlayStation 5 Pro is a more powerful, visually compelling console to its predecessor. However, many reviewers have already questioned whether these improvements will be worth the PS5 Pro’s initial price tag. Given that GameStop is selling the advanced console for almost double the 2024 asking price, and $500 over MSRP, it’s safe to say that the bank for the PS5 Pro probably isn’t worth it.