Console prices have gone up in general. This is just a reflection of inflation.
PS5 is $500. Add 1 TB extra storage. It becomes almost $600. Add the additional 'Pro' features, and it becomes $700.
Same goes for Xbox.
Xbox is $500 for 1 TB. Add 1 TB extra storage, and it becomes $600.
In absolute terms, this is a lot of money for sure. No doubt about it. But this is just the new reality of things, especially considering that these companies can still often lose money on selling these consoles. None of these machines are really overpriced.
Inflation, sure, but whatever happened to the cost of technology going down? PS3 launched at $599, but by this point in it's lifecycle, it was down to $299. Sure, they cut out some features like the useless memory card slots, but it was still the same console. SSD storage prices have absolutely gone down since the PS5 launched. I was one of the idiots who spent close to $400 for a 2tb SSD to add to PS5, and you can get one for below half that price now.
Base PS5 should be going down in price when this launches, and this should be coming out at a price closer to $500. I'll even accept $550, but these console prices are getting ridiculous. It's such a joke that Microsoft thinks they can get $599 for that 2TB series X.
They need to start looking at Nintendo as a competitor because if Switch 2 is good enough for most people, then both Sony and Microsoft could be in trouble.