Microsoft Hikes Prices of Xbox Series X, Game Pass Worldwide

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Console gaming keeps getting more expensive

Microsoft
(Image credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft plans to increase price of its premium Xbox Series X game console in most countries except the U.S., Japan, Chile, Brazil, and Colombia. The company will also up pricing of its Game Pass Ultimate and Game Pass for Console subscriptions worldwide (U.S. included). The company's Xbox Series S console will not see any price jumps — for now, according The Verge.

Microsoft's Xbox Series X game console will soon cost €549.99 in most European markets, £479.99 in the U.K., CAD $649.99 in Canada, and AUD $799.99 in Australia. The new prices will go into effect Aug. 1, 2023 — so if you're interested in grabbing the premium console, you have a little over a month to get it at its current lower price. The price increase will largely bring the Xbox Series X's MSRP up to match Sony's PlayStation 5, which saw a worldwide price hike last Oct. as the result of high inflation rates and the overall economic climate. 

"We have held on our prices for consoles for many years and have adjusted the prices to reflect the competitive conditions in each market," said Kari Perez, head of communications for Xbox, to The Verge. 

Microsoft also plans to raise the price of its Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and Game Pass for Console subscriptions.  The new monthly price for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will increase from $14.99 to $16.99 in the U.S., from £10.99 to £12.99 in the U.K. and from €12.99 to €14.99 in mainland Europe, while the Xbox Game Pass for Console will see its pricing increase to $10.99, £8.99, and €10.99, respectively. The subscription fee for the PC Game Pass will not change, and the Game Pass Ultimate and Game Pass for Console subscription prices will remain the same in Norway, Chile, Denmark, Switzerland, and Saudi Arabia.

For current Game Pass Ultimate and Game Pass for Console subscribers, the new rates will apply starting Aug. 13 (Sept. 13 in Germany). New subscribers will see the new rates starting July 6.  

"These Game Pass price adjustments are not related to the Activision Blizzard deal, and are intended to match local market conditions," Perez emphasized.

Microsoft changing the prices for its Game Pass Ultimate/Console subscriptions follows a wider trend of increasing fees for entertainment subscription services. Disney Plus, Hulu, Netflix, Apple Music, and Spotify have all seen recent price increases. 

Anton Shilov
Anton Shilov
Contributing Writer

Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

36 Comments Comment from the forums
  • MiniITXEconomy
    I think the end game for Microsoft was always to hit a $50-$70 price point with Games Pass. You just gotta hook folks on the idea of it early on, get them to see how valuable it is, before you reel them in with gradual price hikes.
    Reply
  • Giroro
    I would be mad, but I don't actually want an XseX, since they are laggy ad-heavy always-online nightmares built around an ever-increasing pile of "infinite money forever" subscription scams. They almost had an advantage with higher specs than the PS5, but then they completely kneecapped that advantage by building an astonishingly bloated OS and forcing games to be compatible with severely underpowered XseS.
    Also, we're almost 3 years deep and they still haven't released anything resembling "system seller" games.

    I think a lot of gamers share my feelings of not wanting to buy into the ecosystem, since Microsoft is too embarrassed to ever bring up their sales figures. That means however far they are behind, its not close.
    I think people are going to keep going to go back to PC as the cost of most non-Nvidia parts continues to drop like a brick. Presumably this means the price increase is happening while these old consoles keep getting cheaper to build and more profitable every day, which is scummy.
    But it's like they always say ,"Desperate record-breaking-profit times call for desperate record-breaking-profit measures."

    Reply
  • NeoMorpheus
    Perfect timing for my exit from GamePass and Series X.

    I guess I will be getting a bitmore money when I sell it. :-)
    Reply
  • Dr3ams
    A month before the release of Starfield...hmmm.
    Reply
  • RedBear87
    It's always amusing to see how consoles never get price hikes in the US, it was the same with the PS5 last year, the place has really more than one exorbitant privilege for Pete's sake.
    Reply
  • 10tacle
    So...has Microsoft improved on the XBSX since the launch? Sony is now on the third iteration of its PS5 which is currently the 1200 series - one I purchased last November. The Q4 2020 launch was the 1000, and the 1100 update (Q2 2021-Q2 2022 production) had a cooling tweak design.

    However the 1200 series (Q3 2022 production start) had a significant change with a new motherboard PCB design as well as yet another cooling tweak with lighter components. It consumes 10% less power and runs ~3C cooler than the original version and ~2C cooler than the 1100. Also, it's about 1.5 pounds/.7kg less than the launch console. And now there's word Sony will offer yet another version, a slimmer version for Q3 this year. All of this at the same $399/$499 USD retail price (digital/disk version) since launch.

    The question remains: what has Microsoft done to warrant the price increase, and why specifically are they just raising it in certain countries? And keep in mind the PS5 is still flying off the shelves in sales whereas the XBSX is not.
    Reply
  • Math Geek
    considering they just announced the end of the XB1 games...

    https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-is-no-longer-making-new-games-for-the-xbox-one-174452073.html
    perfect time to jack the price up for the only option left.

    i'm pretty much MS free on my pc and def time to be free of MS in the rest of the world as well. good luck to me, hope it works out for em
    Reply
  • sherhi
    In my country PS5 went for 700€ when I bought Series X for 500€, now PS5 is at 550€ so they are just leveling a playing field.
    I see many people online being unhappy mostly with their false advertisement of "4k/60fps next gen console" which turned out to be a total lie, since the release I don't think there was any major AAA game with astonishing graphics that would run at 4k/60, everything is barely at 30fps.
    I don't see people complaining about the purchase price or price of subscription honestly, there are many games you can play and many people got 3 years of subscription via gold conversion for some 100-120€ which is very cheap, also some kind of family plan is coming so that will be cheaper when shared.
    Even at 550€ you just can't build a comparable PC (with matching FPS in games, not just HW specs) and that's why I bought it.
    Reply
  • NeoMorpheus said:
    Perfect timing for my exit from GamePass and Series X.

    I guess I will be getting a bitmore money when I sell it. :)

    Sold my Series X a few weeks ago. :)
    Reply
  • bigdragon
    The Game Pass increase isn't a surprise. Microsoft is just acting like every other service provider and media distributor. Hook a lot of users and then see how much subscription money you can get from them each month -- a well established strategy.

    Seeing the price of the hardware consoles increase is saddening. I miss the days of inflation rates below central bank targets. The current worldwide economic environment has lost the stability we had for decades. Hopefully all the new fabs under construction restores that stability for the next generation of gaming gear.
    Reply