We recently talked about how inflated RAM prices are affecting the gaming industry, and things only seem to be getting worse. Three primary manufacturers dominate the memory market: SK Hynix, Samsung, and Micron. Yesterday, Micron announced that it’s exiting the consumer business, effectively shutting down the Crucial line of commercial products.
Crucial made some of the best SSDs, external drives, and commercial RAM sticks. The brand’s products were often praised for their price-to-performance ratio and reliability, but sadly, all that has come to an end. Why? Well, I’ll let a quote from Micron itself explain:
The AI-driven growth in the data center has led to a surge in demand for memory and storage. Micron has made the difficult decision to exit the Crucial consumer business in order to improve supply and support for our larger, strategic customers in faster-growing segments.
To translate that corporate speak for you, here’s what that means: Screw you, average Joe.
How Does This Affect You As A Gamer?
For a lot of people, seeing DDR5 RAM kits reach prices of $500 (even $1000 in some cases) is certainly shocking. However, RAM pricing has a reputation for volatility and borderline price-gouging. XDA’s Adam Conway pointed out how the memory market has often had boom-and-bust cycles where manufacturers artificially constrain supply to maintain margins. This happened back in the early 2000s, and Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron pretty much pleaded guilty to DRAM price fixing. Similar events took place in 2016 and 2018.
The skepticism does make sense. AI data centers are consuming memory at an unprecedented rate, sure. But Micron choosing to kill off Crucial — a 29-year-old brand beloved by consumers — signals something else: they don’t have to price gouge you as a consumer anymore, big corporations can just do that to each other.
Amidst all this, people also seem to be forgetting that SSD prices are also on the rise. How does this affect you as a gamer? Badly. If you want an external SSD or want to upgrade your PS5’s internal one, you’re going to see higher prices. Similarly, many who were looking into building a new PC might just be getting priced out of the hobby.
Sports gamers will feel the problem too. Titles like NBA 2K26 keep inflating in size every year, and mandatory patches, updates, and expanded modes further inflate the install size. The rise in SSD prices means you’ll either be spending more or deleting more games. On top of that, we all might be in for a rude surprise when it comes to pricing for the next-gen Xbox and PlayStation 6.
