“Voting for Trump to remove women and minorities from video games, only for him to make consoles more expensive.”

Frustrated online game followers are calling a current worth enhance on the PlayStation 5 the “Trump gamer tax,” referencing his sweeping tariffs. On Wednesday, Sony introduced that the worth tag on their latest console is leaping by $50.

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Frustrated avid gamers related the upper prices of the PS5 and PS5 Pro to the sweeping import duties on electronics. The timing has been particularly painful for these ready greater than a decade for Grand Theft Auto 6, now pressured to pay extra for the {hardware} earlier than the sport even drops.

And you thought the gaming trade couldn’t worsen

If you’re simply hearing about this worth hike, it’s already too late to expire and purchase a PS5. The enhance from $499.99 for the usual and $699.99 for the PlayStation 5 Pro to $549.99 and $749.99, respectively, went into impact on Thursday. Sony blamed the financial system.

“Similar to many global businesses, we continue to navigate a challenging economic environment,” the corporate wrote in a weblog put up. “As a result, we’ve made the difficult decision to increase the recommended retail price for PlayStation 5 consoles in the U.S. starting on August 21.”

Many avid gamers, particularly critics of President Donald Trump, took this to imply that his tariffs are the supply of this horrible information. Economists have lengthy predicted the prices of electronics like online game {hardware} would leap as a result of 30 p.c tariff on China and the 15 p.c one on Japan.

According to Kotaku, Sony is the final of the massive three to extend console costs this 12 months. The Xbox Series X elevated by $100 in May, and the unique Nintendo Switch went up by $50 on August 3.

“We got the Trump gamer tax before GTA 6”

As avid gamers threaten to rage give up society, Democrats are leaping on the information to assault Trump. The official get together X account, @TheDemocrats, pinged the GTA 6 meme the day of the announcement.

“We got the Trump gamer tax before GTA 6,” they wrote.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, in the meantime, took a cue from California Governor Gavin Newsom and wrote out a Trump-style tweet on the topic.

“GREAT WORK, DONALD TRUMP, RAISING PRICES FOR ALL AMERICANS AND MAKING GOODS AND SERVICES MORE EXPENSIVE!” he stated. “IF NOT FOR YOUR NEGOTIATING SKILLS AND MANY BANKRUPTCIES, HOW WOULD WE ALL MANAGE?! THANK YOU FOR YOUR WORK INCREASING THE COST OF LIVING SIR!”

Texas-based Democratic candidate Isaiah Martin did the identical.

“IT APPEARS THAT DONALD J. ‘TINY HANDS’ HAS SLAPPED ON A NEW TAX (THE GAMER TAX) ON PS5’S AND OTHER GAMES!” he wrote. “I SWEAR, WE ARE GOVERNED BY IDIOTS! COULD YOU IMAGINE IF THAT ARBY’S CONNOISSEUR (NASTY) FOCUSED ON MAKING YOUR LIFE BETTER INSTEAD?”

“Voting for Trump to remove women and minorities from video games, only for him to make consoles more expensive,” @anitamaxwynn06 wrote alongside the “it’s so peak” gif.

“Trump is continuing to punish and oppress the most oppressed group in the history of the world,” stated @ecampo12. “Gamers.”

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