Xbox Price Hikes Spark Worry Over Console Costs

Microsoft has increased the price of its Xbox Series X and S consoles due to rising costs for memory chips and storage components.

The premium Xbox Series X console with a disc drive will now cost £670, up from £500, while the baseline Xbox Series S console will be priced at £430, a roughly 43% increase on its previous price of £300.

The price hike is attributed to the increasing demand for random-access memory (RAM) and graphics cards, which are used in consoles and gaming PCs. The cost of RAM has risen due to high demand from AI firms, while graphics card prices have also increased as they're being used to generate AI content.

Microsoft had previously stated that it hoped another price increase would not be necessary, but the rising costs have forced the company to pass on the additional expenses to consumers. This move has been met with criticism, with some arguing that large tech firms should absorb these costs rather than passing them on to consumers.

Jez Corden, a Windows Central editor, tweeted that 'this ain't even the ceiling' in reference to Xbox's price increases, suggesting that console prices could go higher still. Amazon's gaming boss has also warned that increasing hardware costs may lead more people to ditch consoles and stream games instead.