PlayStation users advised to hand in old consoles this week
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.
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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.