Tom Warren writing for The Verge: Microsoft Is Raising Prices on Xbox Consoles in the US Again

Microsoft is raising the prices of its Xbox Series S / X consoles in the US next month. The Xbox Series X will be priced at $649.99 in the US starting October 3rd, up from its existing $599.99 price. The Xbox Series S will move to $399.99, up from $379.99.

This generation of consoles is truly unlike anything else we’ve ever seen in the industry. The Xbox Series X launched in November 2020 with a retail price of $499. 5 years later and it costs $649.

Put another way, imagine if instead of the iPhone 17 Pro coming out today, the iPhone 16 Pro just stuck around and got a price increase to $1,299 starting.

Or how about this story, which I didn’t even have time to write about? PS5 Digital Edition Reportedly Getting Surprise Downgrade in Europe. Basically, it looks like there’s going to be a modified version of the PS5 coming to Europe soon that will decrease the storage capacity by 10-20% from the current model. This of course comes after raising the prices of the PS5 as well. Woof.

I’m not one to join the constantly complaining gamer crowd, but this is wild and absolutely worthy of a “WTF is going on, mate?”

Microsoft’s answer is that it’s “due to changes in the macroeconomic environment”, which is a don’t-piss-off-the-king jargon for “tariffs”, but even these insane tariffs out of the picture, it’s really striking how Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo have completely failed to do what they’ve done every single console generation since the 80s: lower prices as the console gets cheaper to manufacture. I saw this picture posted to social media and Reddit a few times recently, and it’s a great example of how things used to be.

The Nintendo GameCube released in 2001 for $199, and a few years later you could get it for $99 standard, and apparently $49 on some mega Walmart sale. This wasn’t just an early 2000s thing either, the PS4 and Xbox One generation saw “slim” and other models come out in the years following the original boxes that lowered the price significantly.

This post doesn’t really have a point beyond, “damn, this is crazy,” but hey, this is crazy.