Never one to buck trends and go against the grain, the long-rumored Xbox price hike is official. The worst part? Microsoft hasn’t even acquired Activision Blizzard yet.
As the tech giant wrestles against government regulators as it plans to buy Activision Blizzard, Microsoft isn't about to curry favor among fans by announcing its plans to increase prices for the Xbox Series X console and the Game Pass subscription. The price hike will be implemented in most countries to reflect rates in each market.
The company will raise the price for its flagship Xbox Series X in August in most countries excluding the US, Japan, Chile, Brazil, and Colombia as well as the prices for the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and Game Pass for consoles next month.
"We’ve held on our prices for consoles for many years and have adjusted the prices to reflect the competitive conditions in each market," Kari Perez, head of communications for Xbox, said in a statement to The Verge.
The new price tag for the Xbox Series X will match the pricing of Sony’s PlayStation 5. Sony announced a price hike last year attributing the move to "challenging economic conditions."
The Xbox Series X will now be priced at £479.99 in the UK, €549.99 across most European markets, CAD 649.99 in Canada, and AUD 799.99 in Australia. The new rates will be implemented starting August 1st. The price of the Xbox Series S will remain unchanged at $299.99.
Industry experts have expected a price hike for the Xbox console for quite some time. The ever-vocal and candid Xbox CEO, Phil Spencer, also hinted at the possibility of raising the price of its subscription service last year saying that the rates wouldn’t hold forever.
The Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will move up from $14.99 to $16.99. The basic Xbox Game Pass subscription for consoles will increase from $9.99 to $10.99 a month. The new pricing scheme will start on July 6th. Microsoft will not be changing the price of the PC Game Pass.
Existing monthly Game Pass subscribers will not see a change in the subscription rates until August 13 in most countries and September 13 in Germany. However, the price hike will immediately take effect on July 6 for new subscribers.
Microsoft has clarified that the price hike is not related to the company’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard. "These Game Pass price adjustments are not related to the Activision Blizzard deal, and are intended to match local market conditions," Perez said.
This will be the first time Microsoft will increase prices for the Xbox Game Pass since the subscription service was launched in 2017. Sony also updated its PlayStation Plus subscription service rates last year when it announced the Essential, Plus Extra, and Plus Premium subscription tiers.
It's interesting that the timing of the Xbox price increase coincides with the impending release of Starfield. Microsoft might be confident enough in the game that it will help the struggling Xbox platform to move units despite the slight price hike. It remains to be seen if this is the case but, at the very least, Starfield has stacked the deck in its favor. It comes complete with themed accessories, a new Xbox Series S variant, and multitudes of freebies for those who pre-order its most expensive edition.
The prices are meant to come down as time goes on, not go up!!! FFS MICROSOFT!!!
They just keep shooting themselves in the foot one mistake after the next.
They really want me to become a Sony fan. For real.