GameStop wants $1,399.99 for a used PlayStation 5 Pro, which is the kind of number that makes you check whether your coffee had something extra in it. That is $500 more than a brand-new PS5 Pro costs at its current $899.99 MSRP. Did someone at corporate fall down the stairs and land on a pricing gun?
New Consoles Are Gone, and GTA 6 Is Why
Pre-owned and refurbished PS5 Pro units carry that absurd $1,399.99 tag right now. GameStop Pro members get a 5 percent discount, which drops things to $1,329.99, a savings so tiny it feels like finding a nickel in a couch cushion while your house burns down. And that is the digital model. Want the version GameStop lists as “Physical,” with the disc drive? That is $1,499.99. Bring a second nickel. Special editions land at $1,499.99 too. The PS5 Pro launched at $699.99. Nearly double that for a console somebody else already breathed on is not a business strategy. It is a hostage negotiation.
There is a real shortage of new PS5 Pro hardware, and you can blame Grand Theft Auto 6 for a big chunk of it. New units are extinct at MSRP at GameStop, Target, Sony’s own store, and anywhere else that sells electronics without also selling live bait. Walmart and Best Buy still have listings, but they sit near $1,500 from resellers. People expect GTA 6 to look incredible on a PS5 Pro, so they are buying the thing like it dispenses free chili. Every PS5 Pro that hits a shelf vanishes before you can say “that seems expensive.”
Somebody at GameStop Wrote This Down
A GameStop employee leaked an internal memo on Reddit, and the r/GameStop moderators vetted the poster. The memo reportedly spells it out: used costing more than new is intentional. Intentional. Like a mullet. Like ordering a well-done steak. GameStop apparently looked at scalpers making bank and thought, why not us? My guess? GameStop is cashing in on empty shelves while quietly training everyone to pay more for consoles, period. My bias is simple, and I will not budge: this stinks, and the people running GameStop know it stinks.
In April 2026, Sony raised the PS5 Pro MSRP to $899.99 in the United States, blaming continued pressures in the global economic landscape. That was a $150 jump. So Sony yanked the ladder up, GameStop set the ladder on fire, and customers are standing in the yard wondering what happened. Sure, $1,500 buys a respectable gaming PC. But GTA 6 is console-only when it lands Nov. 19, so that escape hatch is welded shut. So you are stuck either way. Congratulations.
Remember When Fun Was Affordable
I keep thinking about the midnight launch of the Nintendo Wii in 2006, when people camped outside Toys R Us, and the biggest scandal was somebody cutting in line for a bucket of chicken. We have traded that energy for a world where a used PS5 Pro costs more than some of the cars rusting on Facebook Marketplace.
GameStop used to be the place where you traded three Xbox 360 games and walked out with something new. Now it feels like a pawn shop run by a guy who really likes money. The PS5 Pro deserves better. You deserve better. The chicken deserves better.
PlayStation Direct Is Your Only Hope
Your realistic option is monitoring PlayStation Direct, which restocks PS5 Pro units occasionally. Set an alarm. Refresh like a maniac. Do not pay $1,399.99 for a used PS5 Pro, because that price is not a deal; it is a dare. GameStop is betting you are desperate enough to say yes. Prove them wrong, or at least make them sweat a little.
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