The US tariffs barrage and the bounding cost of producing games have prompted manufacturers like Sony and Microsoft to announce price hikes on consoles, in an industry shift experts say is set to last.

Sony's 2020-vintage Playstation 5 has seen its price hiked by tens of dollars worldwide in recent weeks, a move matched on Microsoft's Xbox Series X.

While tech products usually fall in price as their release date fades into the past, games industry analysts say these are clear impacts of US President Donald Trump's border levies on major trading partners.

Last year, "75 percent of all consoles shipped to the US... were made in China," market research firm Niko Partners wrote in an April note.

Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad said Microsoft's global price hike aims "to soften the actual price increase in the US, which is Xbox's largest market" -- and the only one affected by Trump's swingeing tariffs on imports from China.

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