GameStop is hoping PS5 Pro buyers are desperate enough to pay $500 over MSRP

As the release of Grand Theft Auto 6 approaches, gamers 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 now prices its advanced console $200 higher than its initial asking price, listing it at a whopping $899.99. However, you may end up paying well above this already inflated price tag if you are looking to snag a new console by the end of the year. As it stands, retailers and resellers alike are taking the laws of supply and demand to heart. GameStop, for instance, currently lists a used PlayStation 5 Pro for an eye-popping $1,399.99, half a grand over its MSRP. Similar markups can be found across the resale market.

Sony has attempted to dampen these markups where it can. In Japan, for instance, the company instituted a lottery system tied to game time minimums, presumably to rein in a reseller market that is quickly getting out of control. However, with no end to the shortage in sight, inflated prices are only likely to persist.

The PS5 Pro is indicative of broader trends in the consumer tech market. Data centers are gobbling up high-bandwidth memory, a key component for delivering data quickly to advanced processors.  The cascading effect has seen the production of the dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) necessary for consumer devices like the PS5 Pro lag, sparking shortages. An August 2026 JP Morgan report predicted that by the end of the year, the price of DRAM will have risen 400 percent worldwide 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 state that the PS5 Pro shortage would persist "through early 2027 at the earliest." Some expect the component constraints to persist far beyond next year, with some forecasting that the RAM crisis could persist until the 2030.

GameStop is just one of several sellers attempting to squeeze every last drop out of the PlayStation 5 Pro shortage. Best Buy, for instance, is currently selling 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 soaring above $1,100. For what its worth, GameStop owns roughly 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" skyrocketed by 31 percent. In addition to the PS5 Pro's $200 increase, PlayStation 5s have increased by $150, roughly 30 percent. Such trends could prove catastrophic for the industry. This month, video game hardware sales hit a 13-year low.

Before splurging on GameStop's PS5 Pro, you may want to ask whether the upgrade is worth the cash. Capable of running 4K graphics at 60 frames per second, the PS5 Pro's enhanced visuals look great on a high-end television. Add 2 TB of memory, an enhanced GPU and special features like ray tracing, andthe PS5 Pro delivers tangible advantages over its predecessor. 

The greatest advancement is its PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) image upscaler, which uses AI to enhance image pixels. Although somewhat maligned at its initial release, PlayStation made an improved edition, PSSR Enhanced, that is now the console's default setting. However, like many of the Pro's most compelling features, PSSR only works for games labeled PS5 Pro Enhanced, like GTA VI. To date, however, you and a friend could probably count the number of games that natively use the new PSSR on your hands. Whether these visual upgrades meaningfully change the gaming experience, though, is debated. 

Sony's latest PS5 update may begin to narrow the gap between the two consoles. In an October 2026 blog post, Sony stated that it was bringing 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 will bring 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 already questioned whether these enhancements were worth the PS5 Pro's initial price tag. Given that GameStop is selling the advanced console for nearly double the 2024 asking price, and $500 above MSRP, its safe to say that breaking the bank for the PS5 Pro likely isn't worth it.