Australian retailer EB Games offers 2020 launch day pricing for PlayStation 5 trade-ins

Even before the current memory crisis led to price increases across a wide range of PC and gaming hardware, the pricing history of the current generation of video game consoles has been unprecedented. As we're closing in on six years of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles going on sale, they're both now notably more expensive to buy than they were on day one in most markets. Compared with previous console generations, in which prices steadily declined over time, this unprecedented situation has led to something we never thought we'd see.

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Australian retailer EB Games, which is basically the GameStop of Down Under, is offering its members a trade-in deal that gives them $749.95 in cash or store credit for their 2020 launch-day PlayStation 5 disc-based consoles. To highlight the noteworthiness of this trade-in deal (via Press Start), $749.95 AUD was the launch day price for the PlayStation 5 in Australia.

Which means EB Games members can essentially get a full refund for a six-year-old console they've used week in, week out to play games. A potential reason EB Games is offering this trade-in deal is that the current PS5 disc-based slim refresh console is priced at $999.95 AUD in the country. This 33% increase likely indicates that the retailer plans to refurbish these consoles and sell them at a discounted price relative to the current $1,000 price.

Another reason is that EB Games is also offering trade-ins and the option to upgrade to a PS5 Pro console for $620, which currently retails for $1,399.95 AUD. There are some caveats to this deal: the offer is only valid through Sunday, April 26, and it's only available to EB World PLUS members, which costs $49 for a year or $25 for three months. Plus, in a fun little marketing move, the deal is limited to the first 2020 people. Either way, it's noteworthy because it highlights recent price increases in console hardware and their impact on the second-hand market.