Unless you're an avid collector who's saving your retro consoles for a rainy day or a potential retirement fund, chances are that you've got some old tech lying around somewhere.
Everything comes full circle, and while there's a booming market for nostalgic Nintendo finds, others like PlayStation and Xbox are increasingly finding that their consoles and games from yesteryear could fetch a pretty penny.
The auction scene is groaning with gaming gems, but unless you've somehow got a Nintendo PlayStation Super NES CD-ROM Prototype lying around, it's a minefield to navigate what's worth $360,000 and what's worth mere cents.
We recently covered how a rare copy of 1996's Resident Evil is going for nearly $100,000, while even the OG Tomb Raider could offer an unexpected windfall. Consoles themselves have also started to soar, and you might remember when the price of second-hand PlayStation 4's skyrocketed when gamers were struggling to get their hands on the PS5.
Advert
The PS4 finally fell out of production as recently as March 2024 in Japan, but in the second-hand market, you can expect to get up to $200 for your standard model. Then again, with some being nabbed for as little as $60, one YouTuber recently called it the best deal in gaming for 2026.
If you're looking to do a bit of a spring clean and fancy upgrading to the latest generation, Sony is offering a lucrative deal where you can save some serious dollars on your next purchase. In conjunction with Back Market, Sony's "Trade In & Trade Up" program allows you to get up to $150 off the cost of a PS5. This will look familiar to anyone who's tried to trade in old iPhones.
Those willing to hand back their PS4 will be offered a $100 voucher, with Back Market then adding another $50 if you're willing to trade up. As well as the standard PS5 and the Digital Edition, you could also use your voucher toward a PSVR2 or a PS5 Pro.
As the PS5 Pro is currently listed at $750 on the official site, your old PS4 could knock that down to $600. It's important to note that the valuation is based on inspections from Back Market's professional refurbishers, meaning a busted PS4 that's been used to prop up your coffee table isn't likely to bring in much.
There's also the caveat that the $100 trade-in price is based on a 'functional' PS4 Pro with two controllers, 100 GB storage, and that it must be in a 'good' condition. We'd like to point out that you could probably get more when selling that package elsewhere, while the cost of the various PS5 consoles might be cheaper when buying from third-party retailers.
Still, for those who are interested in the Trade In & Trade Up scheme, they've got until March 31, 2026, at 11:59 pm EST to sign up. There's a similar deal for those in the UK, with having until March 31 at 11.59 pm GMT.
That deal will give UK residents £100 and a £50 bonus, meaning those in the USA seem to be losing out a bit on this one.
Gamming purists might want to hold onto their PS4 for a bit longer, and for many, they’ll still be playing their old faithful.