**€649.99.** That's what a PS5 with a disc drive costs in Portugal today. The same console launched in November 2020 at €499. The latest jump came on April 2: €100 in one go, the second increase in under a year. Sony blamed persistent pressure on the global economy and little else. Nintendo followed in September. The Switch 2 went from €469.99 to €499.99. And PlayStation Plus, which many people give as a gift because it fits in an envelope, has cost €9.99 a month for new sign-ups since May 20, one euro more than before. This changes how you read a budget list. €500 used to be where the console conversation started. Today it buys a Switch 2 with one cent left over. So the first question is no longer how much you want to spend. It's whether the person already owns a console. If not, the gift is the console and everything else is small talk. If so, everything below is an accessory, and a badly chosen accessory is what sits in a drawer until next Christmas. The prices below are the list prices I could confirm in Portugal. Some shops sell for less. ## Up to €30: a subscription and a question Three months of PlayStation Plus Essential cost €27.99 for new sign-ups since May 20. It includes online multiplayer, three to four games a month and store discounts. Sony says existing subscribers who keep their plan active are not affected by the increase. Which leads to the question that decides whether this is a good gift: does the person already pay? If so, the old price stays for them as long as they don't let it lapse, and your card mostly helps them save money. If they never subscribed, or let it drop, they'll meet the new price. That's where the gift makes sense. ## The second controller and the price of colour The standard DualSense sits on PlayStation's Portuguese store between €74.99 and €79.99 depending on the colour. Limited editions go up to €84.99. It's the safest gift on the list for a plain reason: it turns a one-person console into a two-person one. The models are listed as compatible with PS5, PC, Mac and mobile, so it also works for someone who plays on a computer. The edition that will dominate the conversation is the GTA VI one. There are two versions at €84.99, arriving November 19, the day set for the game itself. Pre-orders opened on September 10. Take-Two keeps repeating that the date holds, and the game is confirmed for PS5 and Xbox Series, not the Switch 2. One sum almost nobody does: the plain controller shows up advertised in Portuguese shops at around €65. A limited edition at €84.99 is roughly €20 extra for the design. If the design is the gift, fine. If not, that money can go elsewhere. ## The headset that doesn't exist yet The PlayStation Pulse, Sony's new wireless headset, reaches Portugal on November 19 for €99.99. Pre-orders opened on October 29. It has a built-in microphone with AI-assisted noise reduction. The Pulse Edge, another model in the family, is pushed to early 2027, with no price. It's a reservation, not a purchase, and the difference only matters when the gift has a date. A birthday in the week of November 10 ends up with no gift. For December 25, it arrives with room to spare. For reference, the 2024 Pulse Elite cost €149.99 at launch, €50 more than this one. They aren't the same product, so the comparison only shows where Sony positions it. ## Between €190 and €250, where the list gets odd Three products land here that can't be compared with each other and, by a quirk of the calendar, cost almost the same. The DualSense Edge has a list price of €219.99. In May's Days of Play campaign it dropped to €189.99. It's the controller for someone who already knows they want back buttons and adjustable triggers. For someone who plays an hour on weekends, more than €140 above a standard controller is hard to justify. For someone who plays a lot and seriously, the maths is different. The Pulse Elevate speakers come out on November 12 at €219.99. They're the first wireless speakers made by PlayStation itself. They connect over PlayStation Link, with a USB-C adapter included, and over Bluetooth, and have a battery so they can move somewhere else. In Portugal there are two colours: Midnight black in shops and white only on PlayStation's online store. They cost more than double the headset above. The honest question is who will use them. A shared room, or a light sleeper next door, calls for headphones. Speakers call for a room where sound is allowed to exist. The PS Portal, at €249.99 after rising €30, needs the most care. Its core function is playing the PS5 at home over the network. Giving it to someone without a PS5 means giving an expensive screen waiting for a console that doesn't exist. ## And if it really is the console? The Switch 2 costs €499.99 since September 1, €30 more than at launch. The PS5 Digital costs €599.99, the disc version €649.99 and the Pro €899.99, up from €799.99. The gap between the Digital and the disc version is €50. It sounds small, until you remember the disc drive sold separately cost €79.99 when Sony cut its price in 2025. If that figure still holds, Digital plus drive comes to €679.98, €30 more than the disc edition as it ships. Anyone with a shelf of discs, or who buys second-hand games, should do this sum before picking the cheaper one. And anyone buying the console because of GTA VI has another limit: Take-Two has only confirmed PS5 and Xbox Series, and has said nothing about the Switch 2 or PC. The game, of course, is extra. Nintendo admitted the increase could have been worse. It also didn't promise there won't be another.