Xbox Execs Decide the Best Way to Win the Console War is to Just Make You Poor
Look, I get it. Inflation is hitting everything. My grocery bill now requires a second mortgage, my landlord thinks my rent is a suggestion he can just ignore, and apparently, Microsoft’s CFO has been eyeing my wallet like I owe him child support for the Xbox Series X. In a move that has absolutely no one surprised and everyone pissed, Microsoft has officially announced that they’re jacking up the price of their consoles in most markets outside the US. Because, you know, why wouldn’t they? It’s not like they just spent $69 billion on Activision Blizzard to own Call of Duty and the entire concept of workplace ethics. NBD.
So here’s the deal: Starting soon, if you live in Japan, most of Europe, the UK, Canada, or Australia, you’re going to pay more for the privilege of playing Starfield at 30 FPS. The Xbox Series X is getting a price bump of roughly 15-20% in those regions. The Series S, that adorable little toaster that can barely run Fortnite without having an existential crisis, is also getting a bump in some areas. Microsoft’s official spin? “We’ve adjusted prices to reflect the competitive conditions in each market.” Translation: “We saw Sony do it and figured, ‘Fuck it, they’re gonna buy it anyway.’”
Let’s break this down like a bad relationship. You are Microsoft. You are sitting on a mountain of cash. You own the most valuable IP in gaming history. You have a subscription service that is aggressively good. And your response to “tough economic times” is to make your hardware more expensive? It’s like if a billionaire said, “Gas is expensive? I know, I’ll start charging you to breathe my air.” It’s a masterclass in tone-deaf corporate strategy.
The real kicker? The US market is completely untouched. Why? Because the American consumer is the golden goose. We’re the ones who bought the Xbox One Kinect bundle out of sheer patriotism. We’re the ones who pre-order games for $70 and then complain about them being broken. We’re the whales. And Microsoft knows if they touch US prices, the backlash would be so loud it would drown out the sound of a PS5 fan taking off. So they’re hitting the countries that can’t afford it the most. Japan? Yeah, good luck selling an Xbox there when the PS5 is a cultural icon. Canada? Sorry, Tim Hortons is expensive now. Australia? You guys are already paying $100 for a loaf of bread, what’s another $50 on a console?
But let’s not kid ourselves. This is a test. This is them dipping their toe in the water to see if we’ll accept a $600 Xbox Series X by 2025. And the funniest part? People will. Because the alternative is paying $70 for a single game on PC or dealing with the PS5’s UI that looks like it was designed by a committee of blind toddlers. Microsoft has us in a chokehold. We want Game Pass. We want to play Halo again even though it’s been mid since 2012. We want to feel like we’re getting a deal by paying more.
Meanwhile, Sony is sitting there with their $700 PS5 Pro rumors, laughing. Nintendo is probably printing money by selling a 2017 tablet for $350. And we’re all just pawns in a game where the only winner is the shareholders. The real AITA moment here is Microsoft pretending this is about “market conditions” and not about them trying to recoup that sweet, sweet Bobby Kotick severance package.
So what’s the play? If you’re in the US, you’re fine for now. If you’re anywhere else, you have my condolences. You’re basically being charged the “we don’t care about you” tax. Your best bet is to either buy a pre-owned console from a guy who smells like weed and energy drinks, or just accept that you’ll be paying rent for a piece of plastic that will eventually red-ring anyway.
The bottom line: Xbox is raising prices because they can. Not because they have to. And if you think this is bad, just wait until they start charging $20 a month for Game Pass and call it “Ultimate Plus Premium Deluxe.” You know it’s coming. We all know.
Final Thoughts
After years of aggressive value plays with Game Pass and console bundling, this price hike feels less like a necessary adjustment and more like a quiet admission that the “console wars” era of subsidized hardware is over. Microsoft is clearly pivoting to a services-first model, where the box itself becomes a loss leader funded by recurring subscription revenue—but that strategy only works if the content pipeline stays robust. Ultimately, the consumer is left paying more upfront for the privilege of entering an ecosystem that hasn’t yet proven it can deliver the blockbuster exclusives to justify the new cost.