$79 console games.
Not a great morning for the Xbros, I’d gather. Why? Well, you read the headline. Microsoft is raising the price on almost every physical, Xbox related thing they sell.
Don’t try to get in under the whole thing either; they started this new pricing today. Your only other hope is that stores near you haven’t caught up yet. And that’s not much of a hope.
This starts with games. According to Microsoft’s Xbox support page on the whole thing, some of their first party titles will rise in price to $79.99 this coming holiday season. Joy to the world, your wallet’s dead.
There is one saving grace mentioned: some peripherals, like the Xbox Adaptive Controller and the Adaptive Joystick, will not change in price. That said, almost everything else you might possibly want is going up in price. They provided a PDF detailing the price changes for their Xbox Series X|S line, as well as all affected accessories.
- Xbox Series S 512: $379.99
- Xbox Series S 1TB: $429.99
- Xbox Series X Digital: $549.99
- Xbox Series X: $599.99
- Xbox Series X 2TB Galaxy Black Special Edition: $729.99
- Xbox Wireless Controller (Core): $64.99
- Xbox Wireless Controller (Color): $69.99
- Xbox Wireless Controller – Special Edition: $79.99
- Xbox Wireless Controller – Limited Edition: $89.99
- Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 (Core): $149.99
- Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 (Full): $199.99
- Xbox Stereo Headset: $64.99
- Xbox Wireless Headset: $119.99
While those prices above are in US dollars, this is a worldwide increase. So, you may want to check the PDF for the prices in your country: Europe, UK, Australia. It’s also worth noting that they did not provide price charts for every country in the world they do business in, so you may need to do some research on what the new prices are in your region.
You may have noticed that the increase on games just so happens to match the upper cost limit of Nintendo Switch 2 games. That’s probably not a mistake; they saw blood in the water and went for it. I’d argue Nintendo’s pricing for their incoming gaming ecosystem is the most likely reason for this increase, though I’d be lying if I said it was a definitive reason.
They’re not entirely alone in this, either. Sony raised the price of their PS5 consoles in Europe,the UK, Australia and New Zealand last month. The cited “a challenging economic environment”, but you do have to remember One Thing.
The last time Microsoft raised prices on Xbox consoles was in 2023, which also saw a rise in the cost of Game Pass (which is not the case this time, thankfully). Though they did raise the price of Game Pass last year, along with some restructuring of the tiers, so subscribers’ wallets aren’t exactly safe.
This all comes right after Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated that they “ended the quarter as the top publisher by preorders and preinstalls on both Xbox and PlayStation Store,” in the company’s Q3 fiscal earnings call. Revenue from PC Game Pass also went up 45 percent year-over-year, according to the same call.
All said, however, while I personally don’t see the current increases in exactly the same light most have spent a month belaboring since the Switch 2 reveal, I do believe we are fast approaching the limit. That is to say, I don’t think the average consumer is willing to absorb much more cost than this just to play video games; and that is assuming we haven’t just hit that limit. If things get a bit more expensive… well, don’t be surprised if the AAA market hits a crash of some sort.
Source: The Verge
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