Microsoft won't follow Sony in raising the price of its consoles -- for now

[midian182]

Recap: Sony's surprise decision to increase the price of the PlayStation 5 outside of the US has raised questions about whether rival Microsoft will take the same action with its Xbox Series X/S machines. The good news is that the Redmond firm isn't planning on any price hikes—for the time being.

With the turbulent world economy and rising inflation pushing up manufacturing costs, Sony yesterday announced its intention to pass the extra expense onto consumers. The company is increasing PlayStation 5 prices by $20 to $80 across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and North America, though the United States is unaffected.

There has been speculation since the announcement that Microsoft could follow Sony's lead and hike the prices of its Xbox Series X/S consoles. It's a reasonable fear, but the tech giant told WindowsCentral it doesn't have any plans to make its machines more expensive, though it certainly didn't rule out any future increases.

"We are constantly evaluating our business to offer our fans great gaming options. Our Xbox Series S suggested retail price remains at $299 (£250, AU$499) the Xbox Series X is $499 (£450, AU$749)," said a Microsoft spokesperson.

The Xbox Series was the best-selling hardware platform in the US earlier this year, partly due to the PS5's availability issues. However, the ~16 million worldwide shipments lag behind its rival's ~22 million shipments—PlayStation has long been more popular than Xbox in most regions outside of the US.

The Xbox Series, like the PS5, uses Zen 2/RDNA 2-based hardware. Microsoft is undoubtedly facing the same manufacturing/logistics cost increases as Sony, but the company likely knows it can score points by refusing to raise its consoles' prices.

There's also consumer spending to consider. Inflation and the rising cost of living have made many think twice before splashing out on large, unnecessary purchases, so a more expensive Xbox Series could have a major impact on sales. This is especially true of the less-powerful Xbox Series S, which has been Microsoft's best-selling console in some key markets thanks to an MSRP that's $200 less than the XBSX.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/95770-microsoft-wont-follow-sony-raising-price-consoles-now.html

 

[Nobina]

Usually, when one company raises prices it's just a matter of time before others follow. Especially if it's a leading company like Apple with smartphones. Good on MS for not following Sony, yet.

 

[yRaz]

I mean, they are heavily subsidized by subscription services and microtransactions. I'll try to dig up the article but it said that they estimated that the series x should cost between $700-800.

 

[NintPlayBox]

Microsoft knows better than to raise the prices on over two year old hardware.

Kudos to the home of Xbox !!

 

[VaRmeNsI]

I suspect they calculated making a loss on the console was preferable than raising prices and then clawing it back through digital sales later.

 

[R00sT3R]

Never interrupt your enemy when they're making a mistake...

 

[ScottSoapbox]

Don't worry the politicians from both parties are hard at work printing and spending more money we don't have to drive up inflation even more.

 

[AIC1Drew]

Probably time to just buy a PC already.....just sayin.

 

[kira setsu]

They'll just hike up the price of gamepass, easy money.

what are gamers gonna do? not pay the extra dollar or so? heck no as long as gamepass is cheaper than a $60 game gamers will pay it cause buying a game full price physically hurts them.

its why everything is either f2p, a sub or covered in battle passes...or old and remastered for the 5th time....guaranteed money.

 

[terzaerian]

They'll just hike up the price of gamepass, easy money.

what are gamers gonna do? not pay the extra dollar or so? heck no as long as gamepass is cheaper than a $60 game gamers will pay it cause buying a game full price physically hurts them.

its why everything is either f2p, a sub or covered in battle passes...or old and remastered for the 5th time....guaranteed money.

And because console gamers are instant gratification suckers that would rather pay hundreds of dollars a year for instant gratification rather than saving up and waiting for a sale.

I've said it before I'll sale it again - console gaming is only cheaper if you can't do math.

 

[ZackL04]

They'll just hike up the price of gamepass, easy money.

what are gamers gonna do? not pay the extra dollar or so? heck no as long as gamepass is cheaper than a $60 game gamers will pay it cause buying a game full price physically hurts them.

its why everything is either f2p, a sub or covered in battle passes...or old and remastered for the 5th time....guaranteed money.

Gamepass is basically free, even Ultimate.

I paid $1 for 3yrs worth 3yrs ago, once expired, just two weeks ago, I paid $14.99 for another 3yrs

There is a loophole. Any Xbox live you have is auto converted to gamepass ultimate upon 1month purchase. Load up on Xbox live, (3yr max) then buy 1m gamepass ultimate, boom. Netflix for games for 3yrs

Use Turkish VPN codes for live too, grand total was $92