Economic conditions & trends

Xbox Prices Rise by Up to $230, Microsoft Cites Memory Costs

Is Xbox's price hike a necessary response to a memory crisis or a sign that console gaming is heading for collapse?

Published 51 minutes ago

Xbox Prices Rise by Up to $230, Microsoft Cites Memory Costs

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Above: Microsoft's Xbox Series X (L) and Series S (R) on display in Tokyo on Nov. 10, 2020. Image credit: Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images

The Spin

Pro-establishment narrative

Xbox's price hike is a necessary response to a brutal memory crisis that's hammered the entire consumer electronics industry. Console storage and memory costs have surged more than 2.5x, with another doubling expected by fall 2027 — and unlike phones or laptops, consoles are sold below cost. Buy Now Pay Later options, 0% financing and certified refurbished deals make this manageable.

XBOX Wire

Establishment-critical narrative

A 30% price surge on aging hardware is nothing short of a crisis for console gaming. U.K. buyers now pay £170 more for a 1TB Xbox Series X than at launch, and the budget-friendly Series S costs nearly what the Series X did originally. Between mass layoffs, disc drives disappearing, next-gen delays looming, and warnings from industry insiders that "This ain't even the ceiling," console gaming is heading somewhere very dark very fast.

T3.com NME

Jez Corden on X