News Microsoft Hikes Prices of Xbox Series X, Game Pass Worldwide

[Admin]

Microsoft will be increasing the price of the Xbox Series X everywhere except the U.S., Japan, Chile, Brazil, and Colombia. It will also be increasing the price of its Game Pass subscription (in the U.S., U.K., and most of Europe) starting in August.

Microsoft Hikes Prices of Xbox Series X, Game Pass Worldwide : Read more

 

[MiniITXEconomy]

I think the end game for Microsoft was always to hit a $50-$70 price point with Games Pass. You just gotta hook folks on the idea of it early on, get them to see how valuable it is, before you reel them in with gradual price hikes.

 

[Giroro]

I would be mad, but I don't actually want an XseX, since they are laggy ad-heavy always-online nightmares built around an ever-increasing pile of "infinite money forever" subscription scams. They almost had an advantage with higher specs than the PS5, but then they completely kneecapped that advantage by building an astonishingly bloated OS and forcing games to be compatible with severely underpowered XseS.
Also, we're almost 3 years deep and they still haven't released anything resembling "system seller" games.

I think a lot of gamers share my feelings of not wanting to buy into the ecosystem, since Microsoft is too embarrassed to ever bring up their sales figures. That means however far they are behind, its not close.
I think people are going to keep going to go back to PC as the cost of most non-Nvidia parts continues to drop like a brick. Presumably this means the price increase is happening while these old consoles keep getting cheaper to build and more profitable every day, which is scummy.
But it's like they always say ,"Desperate record-breaking-profit times call for desperate record-breaking-profit measures."

 

[NeoMorpheus]

Perfect timing for my exit from GamePass and Series X.

I guess I will be getting a bitmore money when I sell it.

 

[Dr3ams]

A month before the release of Starfield...hmmm.

 

[RedBear87]

It's always amusing to see how consoles never get price hikes in the US, it was the same with the PS5 last year, the place has really more than one exorbitant privilege for Pete's sake.

 

[10tacle]

So...has Microsoft improved on the XBSX since the launch? Sony is now on the third iteration of its PS5 which is currently the 1200 series - one I purchased last November. The Q4 2020 launch was the 1000, and the 1100 update (Q2 2021-Q2 2022 production) had a cooling tweak design.

However the 1200 series (Q3 2022 production start) had a significant change with a new motherboard PCB design as well as yet another cooling tweak with lighter components. It consumes 10% less power and runs ~3C cooler than the original version and ~2C cooler than the 1100. Also, it's about 1.5 pounds/.7kg less than the launch console. And now there's word Sony will offer yet another version, a slimmer version for Q3 this year. All of this at the same $399/$499 USD retail price (digital/disk version) since launch.

The question remains: what has Microsoft done to warrant the price increase, and why specifically are they just raising it in certain countries? And keep in mind the PS5 is still flying off the shelves in sales whereas the XBSX is not.

 

[Math Geek]

considering they just announced the end of the XB1 games...

Microsoft is no longer making new games for the Xbox One | Engadget

Xbox Game Studios teams are no longer working on new games for Xbox One.

www.engadget.com

perfect time to jack the price up for the only option left.

i'm pretty much MS free on my pc and def time to be free of MS in the rest of the world as well. good luck to me, hope it works out for em

 

[sherhi]

In my country PS5 went for 700€ when I bought Series X for 500€, now PS5 is at 550€ so they are just leveling a playing field.
I see many people online being unhappy mostly with their false advertisement of "4k/60fps next gen console" which turned out to be a total lie, since the release I don't think there was any major AAA game with astonishing graphics that would run at 4k/60, everything is barely at 30fps.
I don't see people complaining about the purchase price or price of subscription honestly, there are many games you can play and many people got 3 years of subscription via gold conversion for some 100-120€ which is very cheap, also some kind of family plan is coming so that will be cheaper when shared.
Even at 550€ you just can't build a comparable PC (with matching FPS in games, not just HW specs) and that's why I bought it.

 

[Deleted member 2838871]

Perfect timing for my exit from GamePass and Series X.

I guess I will be getting a bitmore money when I sell it.

Sold my Series X a few weeks ago.

 

[bigdragon]

The Game Pass increase isn't a surprise. Microsoft is just acting like every other service provider and media distributor. Hook a lot of users and then see how much subscription money you can get from them each month -- a well established strategy.

Seeing the price of the hardware consoles increase is saddening. I miss the days of inflation rates below central bank targets. The current worldwide economic environment has lost the stability we had for decades. Hopefully all the new fabs under construction restores that stability for the next generation of gaming gear.

 

[neojack]

classic bait & switch ! never gets old

Lure people with "unlimited" at low price then increase the price. +2$ multiplied by all the subscriptions worldwide, estimated at around 30 millions in the end of 2022.

expect gradual price hikes of like 50cts-1-2$ from time to time. Just enough so people get used to it.

 

[ezst036]

Price hikes probably make a Steam deck a better deal.

 

[eklipz330]

if you're dumb enough to pay for gamepass monthly, then you should complain about the price hike in the comment section

i have 3 years of gamepass stacked for the price of 1 year. and no, this isn't the deal everyone took advantage of, you can easily find gamepass deals online for a fraction of the cost. getting 3 months for $20 is easy.

 

[txfeinbergs]

I mean, it is the first time they have raised the price in more than 5 years, and you all are complaining about "bait and switch"? Bye Felicia!

 

[The Anti-Chadite]

Microsoft will be increasing the price of the Xbox Series X everywhere except the U.S., Japan, Chile, Brazil, and Colombia. It will also be increasing the price of its Game Pass subscription (in the U.S., U.K., and most of Europe) starting in August.

Microsoft Hikes Prices of Xbox Series X, Game Pass Worldwide : Read more

Meh, I don't feel sorry for those that console game. There are so many solutions to overpriced greedy capitalist, it's not even something I bother to joke at anymore. I finally just convinced a Playstation fanboy to switch to PC gaming after like 2-3 years of "I told you so" arguements and him calling me to fix his plastic boxes.

 

[ET3D]

All of this at the same $399/$499 USD retail price (digital/disk version) since launch.

I guess you missed the part (mentioned in this article) about Sony upping the price in most of the world. Microsoft is just following suit.

Or, considering what you said, Sony both reduced the production cost and upped the price.

 

[IamNotChatGpt]

And this is why Subscription models and the people defending it by saying "just leave the service" suck.

 

[IamNotChatGpt]

The price profit increase will largely bring the Xbox Series X's MSRP profit margin up to match Sony's PlayStation 5, which saw a worldwide price profit margin hike last Oct. as the result of greed and the overall shareholder demand.

Fixed it tomshardware, no worries.

 

[PlaneInTheSky]

I really don't understand this strategy at all.

Xbox is losing the console war and Microsoft is going to increase prices?

Literally the only place where Xbox is still relevant is the US. In the rest of the world Nintendo Switch and PS5 dominates because they have the exclusives.

Xbox used to have decent exclusives, I loved Jet Set Radio Future, Shenmue 2, DOA beach volley Xtreme, etc. But now Xbox has almost no exclusives and the very few they have you can just buy on PC and you'll actually be able to play them at 60fps+.

People buy consoles for exclusives. Get that through your head Microsoft. People buy Switch for Zelda. They buy Playstation for Final Fantasy.

So why would you actually increase the price of Xbox everywhere except the US if you're in such a weak position. If Xbox wasn't dead as a doorknob yet outside of the US, it surely will be now.

As far as Game Pass. The first time I tried game pass years ago it was fine, I thought it was pretty fair. But I stopped subscribing to Game Pass because it started to be nothing but mediocre indie games and they increased the price. Another price incrase makes game pass way too overpriced for what it is.

 

[IamNotChatGpt]

I really don't understand this strategy at all.

Xbox is losing the console war and Microsoft is going to increase prices?

Literally the only place where Xbox is still relevant is the US. In the rest of the world Nintendo Switch and PS5 dominates because they have the exclusives.

Xbox used to have decent exclusives, I loved Jet Set Radio Future, Shenmue 2, DOA beach volley Xtreme, etc. But now Xbox has almost no exclusives and the very few they have you can just buy on PC and you'll actually be able to play them at 60fps+.

People buy consoles for exclusives. Get that through your head Microsoft. People buy Switch for Zelda. They buy Playstation for Final Fantasy.

So why would you actually increase the price of Xbox everywhere except the US if you're in such a weak position. If Xbox wasn't dead as a doorknob yet outside of the US, it surely will be now.

As far as Game Pass. The first time I tried game pass years ago it was fine, I thought it was pretty fair. But I stopped subscribing to Game Pass because it started to be nothing but mediocre indie games and they increased the price. Another price incrase makes game pass way too overpriced for what it is.

Amount of sales means nothing. The switch is a fisher price toy that costs substantially less.

"People only buy consoles for exclusives", this is so false on so many fronts. It is a factor but absolutely not the deciding one! They buy the one that all their friends have otherwise what's the point.
In store sale, presentation & bundles also make the deal.

Literally nobody I know ever bought for exclusivity. Nobody. Maybe it's a US or UK thing I don't know.


Additionally this makes the pc platform appear nice. Yes there are store exclusives (Steam v Epic v Gog etc.) but they are still available on the platform you are playing on.

Exclusives are dumb in general. Why limit yourself to only one market, it makes no sense, especially in this hyper-greedflation capitalistic environment where sales must be counted in millions.

 

[newtechldtech]

I guess you missed the part (mentioned in this article) about Sony upping the price in most of the world. Microsoft is just following suit.

Or, considering what you said, Sony both reduced the production cost and upped the price.

source ?

 

[newtechldtech]

Amount of sales means nothing. The switch is a fisher price toy that costs substantially less.

"People only buy consoles for exclusives", this is so false on so many fronts. It is a factor but absolutely not the deciding one! They buy the one that all their friends have otherwise what's the point.
In store sale, presentation & bundles also make the deal.

Literally nobody I know ever bought for exclusivity. Nobody. Maybe it's a US or UK thing I don't know.


Additionally this makes the pc platform appear nice. Yes there are store exclusives (Steam v Epic v Gog etc.) but they are still available on the platform you are playing on.

Exclusives are dumb in general. Why limit yourself to only one market, it makes no sense, especially in this hyper-greedflation capitalistic environment where sales must be counted in millions.

Exclusives are not stupid if they are the best games around ... for example , Nintendo does not release bad games most of the time ... and people I now buy Nintendo Consoles just to lay "Zelda" and "Mario" games.

as for Xbox , allowing Halo outside Xbox is the most stupid move MS made ... I also know people who bought Xbox just to play Halo ...

MS bought Raresoft , and they failed to produce games on the same level of Nintendo games they used to make.

 

[newtechldtech]

They are using old CPU and old technology and yet increasing the price ?

 

[PlaneInTheSky]

Literally nobody I know ever bought for exclusivity. Nobody.

They buy the one that all their friends have otherwise what's the point.

Exclusives are dumb in general.

lmao, what are you smoking.

The reason Nintendo Switch sells like crazy is Zelda, Mario, Pokemon, Animal Crossing, etc. Of course it's the exclusives.

Of the 20 best selling games in history (on any platform), 10 of those are Nintendo exclusives developed by Nintendo. No game developer in history has sold more games than Nintendo.