{"id":28097,"date":"2025-05-01T18:11:18","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T18:11:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/xbox-prices-hiked-worldwide-amid-tariff-uncertainty\/"},"modified":"2025-05-01T18:11:18","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T18:11:18","slug":"xbox-prices-hiked-worldwide-amid-tariff-uncertainty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/xbox-prices-hiked-worldwide-amid-tariff-uncertainty\/","title":{"rendered":"Xbox prices hiked worldwide amid tariff uncertainty"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Microsoft has significantly raised prices for its Xbox console, citing increasing development costs and what it called “market conditions”.<\/p>\n

The increases vary from country to country, with Xbox Series S consoles going up by \u00a350 to \u00a3299.99 in the UK.<\/p>\n

The US has seen even steeper price rises, with the Series X increasing in price by between $100 (\u00a375) and $130, depending on the model.<\/p>\n

It comes as US tariffs – which experts predict will increase prices for consumers – stir global economic uncertainty. However, Microsoft has not explicitly said tariffs were behind the increase.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Xbox prices are also rising in other countries around the world, with the Series S increasing by \u20ac80 in Europe and $50 in Australia.<\/p>\n

It represents a big change in an industry which would typically see prices go down in the years after a console’s launch.<\/p>\n

“We understand that these changes are challenging,” Microsoft said in a blog post<\/a>. <\/p>\n

“They were made with careful consideration given market conditions and the rising cost of development.”<\/p>\n

Kedhrin Gonzalez, founder of Rip & Tear studios, told the BBC he felt the price rise was “inevitable” and “catalysed by current tariff disruptions”. <\/p>\n

“Gamers will suffer most, with little hope of prices decreasing,” he said. <\/p>\n

“This could significantly impact Microsoft’s already modest Xbox sales and potentially trigger broader industry repercussions. <\/p>\n

“This probably won’t be the last price hike we see.”<\/p>\n

And Christopher Dring, who writes about the gaming industry in The Game Business newsletter, told the BBC tariffs were “certainly” part of the decision to increase prices.<\/p>\n

“With accessories and components made in China, the connection is pretty obvious,” he said.<\/p>\n

But he said there were other factors at play, such as inflation, changes in exchange rates and the “general rising cost of business”.<\/p>\n

“All of this\u00a0is playing havoc in an industry that is seeing limited growth,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The console game sector has barely\u00a0grown in terms of users in over 20 years, but costs of manufacturing and game development continue to rise exponentially. <\/p>\n

“Any cost increases, even a small tariff, can have a serious impact on the profitability of these devices.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Historically, in the years following a console’s release it would drop in price, but this generation has seen the opposite.<\/p>\n

Sony originally listed the PlayStation 5 digital edition at \u00a3360 in the UK when it launched in 2020, but over the years its price has increased to its current \u00a3429.99 RRP.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the cost of future Xbox games is also in question, with the firm revealing it anticipated “some of our new, first-party games” would cost $79.99 in 2025.<\/p>\n

This is the same retail price Nintendo announced for its upcoming Mario Kart World – a cost which caused concern amongst gamers who called it “inaccessible”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But unlike Mario Kart, which will cost less if bought digitally rather than in a physical box, Microsoft said its new price would be the same across the board.<\/p>\n

It also clarified it did not plan to increase the price of existing games, only certain new titles developed by the firm itself.<\/p>\n

But Microsoft declined to say whether it plans to increase the price of some future games in the UK as well.<\/p>\n

“Local pricing may differ across countries and platforms,” the firm said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Microsoft has significantly raised prices for its Xbox console, citing increasing development costs and what it called “market conditions”. The increases vary from country to country, with Xbox Series S consoles going up by \u00a350 to \u00a3299.99 in the UK. The US has seen even steeper price rises, with the Series X increasing in price […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[5106,1729,4740,6633,3116,2071],"class_list":["post-28097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech","tag-hiked","tag-prices","tag-tariff","tag-uncertainty","tag-worldwide","tag-xbox"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28097"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28099,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28097\/revisions\/28099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}