Friday, August 26th 2022
Microsoft: No Plans to Increase Xbox Console Pricing
Considering Sony's recently announced price hike for the PS5 (in whatever soil lies outside the U.S.), the question remained whether Microsoft would follow suit. Sony's claimed reasons for the price hike, stemming from rising inflation and increased production costs, are certainly general and actual enough that they could be true for any business. Yet it seems that Microsoft is either not operating in the same global landscape as Sony - or perhaps the company is merely more willing to shoulder the additional costs so as not to increase pricing.
Speaking with Windows Central, Microsoft clarified that "We are constantly evaluating our business to offer our fans great gaming options. Our Xbox Series S suggested retail price remains at $299 (£250, €300) the Xbox Series X is $499 (£450, €500)." Which is actually a great thing, especially considering that gamers around the world are still underserved in the amount of available PS5 and Xbox consoles that have been made available to buy. The Xbox stock situation has improved faster than that of the PS5, but there are still millions of gamers who haven't been able to get their hands on one or the other - and those still waiting for a PS5 console for no fault of their own are now dealing with increased pricing on an almost 2-year-old console.
Both consoles feature a similar hardware configuration - they're built around an AMD-designed SoC with 8 Zen-2 cores and RDNA2-based graphics, 1 TB of SSD memory, 16 GB of GDDR6 RAM, as well as a BluRay unit. Interestingly, the console remaining at the same price (the Xbox Series X) features a larger SoC die than the PS5, due to it having a bigger GPU footprint. This, in turn, affects costs - unless Microsoft managed to ink out better prices from parts providers, chances are that the PS5 is cheaper to produce than its Xbox Serie X counterpart.
Microsoft is riding its Game Pass success, which has become a steady stream of income. Even so, Xbox consoles have generally sold less than the PS5 worldwide, with 16 million units for Microsoft's consoles compared to the PS5's 22 million units. It remains to be seen whether the increase in pricing will do anything to change the balance.
Sources:
Windows Central, via Tom's Hardware
Speaking with Windows Central, Microsoft clarified that "We are constantly evaluating our business to offer our fans great gaming options. Our Xbox Series S suggested retail price remains at $299 (£250, €300) the Xbox Series X is $499 (£450, €500)." Which is actually a great thing, especially considering that gamers around the world are still underserved in the amount of available PS5 and Xbox consoles that have been made available to buy. The Xbox stock situation has improved faster than that of the PS5, but there are still millions of gamers who haven't been able to get their hands on one or the other - and those still waiting for a PS5 console for no fault of their own are now dealing with increased pricing on an almost 2-year-old console.
Microsoft is riding its Game Pass success, which has become a steady stream of income. Even so, Xbox consoles have generally sold less than the PS5 worldwide, with 16 million units for Microsoft's consoles compared to the PS5's 22 million units. It remains to be seen whether the increase in pricing will do anything to change the balance.
26 Comments on Microsoft: No Plans to Increase Xbox Console Pricing
isn't it because of scalping? how about active consoles? (i.e.: only counting PSN and XBLive if they repport the hardware they run on )
although 6mio difference would be a bit too huge for scalping excuse :laugh: i just thought it would be funny nonetheless, but why not, TPM modules, GPU ... consoles?
although i see some Series S at 299chf (309.94$) two Series X listed at 499chf, all the rest of the X are 549chf and above (if in stock )
Die hard Sony fans will still pick up a playstation no doubt but Microsoft are playing the long game. Once the Activision deal goes through, they will have access to so much more I.P for gamepass and im sure they will leverage it to pick up more users for their platform
Gaming in general is rubbish now, on PC we couldn't buy GPUs for a couple of years now, and the games are rubbish as well (technically speaking), adding ray tracing doesn't add anything when you have 360 level textures and hexagon instead of circle.
I still own the best console made by the way, from before the first xbox and before the play station 1.
A Philips CD-i player, I used it for gaming, watching movies and even used internet with it in the 90s.
Sounds like a win-win-win to me, hehehe :)
i have a Ps2 Slim and i never used the OG DS controller ... always bought aftermarket "xbox button/stick placement" controllers :oops:
yeah, that Duke ...
Weren't ps5's mining better ?
the plans part is the writer. enough with the Microsoft bias
Usually bias means in favor of not against a company.
Unless a second favored company is mentioned that is.
wccftech.com/cryptocurrency-miners-caught-with-3800-playstation-4-consoles-after-ukrainian-police-uncover-the-mining-operation/
bias
[ bahy-uhs ][/HR]
noun
- a particular tendency, trend, inclination, feeling, or opinion, especially one that is preconceived or unreasoned:
- illegal bias against older job applicants;
- the magazine’s bias toward art rather than photography;
- our strong bias in favor of the idea.
- unreasonably hostile feelings or opinions about a social group; prejudice:
- accusations of racial bias.
yeah cause a helmeted cat speaks always the truth, MS is the same as 10 years ago and companies aren't able to change...Yeah but 11 is just a windows dressing of 10 plus more obnoxious security.
Hardly new.
Got one with Horizon whatever game still in its box never opened. No games for the damn console and it was stupid over priced.
Xbox series x is nice. Buddy bought one. But my pc is enough to play what I want as is anyway.
I'm genuinely curious why bother with current consoles? I can't even think of a game worth a damn or even coming out.I just saw one of those in a store for $250 cad. Haven't seen one since forever ago. Was tempted to buy.
So I just sold my PS5.