Breaking: Xbox and Microsoft reveal global price increases for consoles, accessories — and even games

Crayon said:
Think I'm going to order one on amazon and sit on it through the return period. A lot can change in a month, these days.
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PS5 Pro about to sell out on Amazon. People and probably scalpers are running to not only buy as many Xboxes as possible but PS5s too. Seems like there is a targeted effort towards the PS5 Pro, you even have some xbox influencers talking about buying a PS5 Pro before a potential price increase.

The irony through all of this is you can still buy a PS5 Digital with Astro Bot on PS Direct for 400 dollars right now...
 
Topher said:
Plot twist!



Drama Monkey GIF
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Life comes at you fast!

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Well this is the time people are honestly going to be forced to speak with their wallets even if they don't want to. These companies are pricing people out and it's gonna hurt their sales bad. I'll never understand how a company says hey..you guys wanna increase profit and sales?!! Let's increase prices on our products!! That'll bring customers in!! What a joke
 
Chronos24 said:
Well this is the time people are honestly going to be forced to speak with their wallets even if they don't want to.
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This is a time where some people will have no choice but to speak with their wallets. I am not in panic mode yet but we could be witnessing the beginnings of a market correction if not a market collapse. They are pricing less fortunate gamers completely out of modern console gaming. I know, for some people it comes down to F the poor, but as someone who used to manage an EB/GS almost all of my customers were average people that were not wealthy and just getting by. I hate that this industry is starting to price them out.
 
Pimpbaa said:
The haters were right, this gen really does suck.
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Explain. Do you not own a console? So I get that the pricing stuff sucks, but the people complaining the most about it are core gamers on forums who presumably already own a console and aren't impacted directly at all by the increase in hardware costs.

The increase in software costs on the other hand are a bigger deal. I don't recall a time when pricing increased multiple times within the same generation and I do wonder if Sony will followsuit or if some publishers will simply let others price themselves out of the market.

Ghost of Yotei is going to release for 70 dollars. They could have charged 80 but they didn't. Death Stranding is also 70. I think it is more likely that Saros is 60 dollars than 80 (it'll be 70) and I think games will continue to drop for 40, 50, and 60 dollars like Helldivers 2, Clair Obscur, and Astro Bot.

You have the annual release games like Madden and EA FC that will probably try to push for 80 and will hopefully get pushback as well. They already heavily discount these games almost immediately post launch. People will just wait.
 
Brisal73 said:
easiest way to fix, is not to buy. They would be forced to lower their prices. (won't happen)
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well, it's worst for them (these companies) if they are not going to drop prices, they will have to justify that asking price.

how?... keep releasing mid games, unfinished or unoptimized, have controversial PR/Marketing cycles? 😬.
 
Brisal73 said:
easiest way to fix, is not to buy. They would be forced to lower their prices. (won't happen)
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If the world has taught us one thing since COVID, it's that industries know how to move together now. You can't boycott a specific party to force them back to the market price if everyone in that market raises their prices together. Sony moved to USD$70, everyone followed. Nintendo's moved to USD$80/USD$90, and everyone will follow.

The industry will need to crash and burn to force these companies to give up their greed at this point.
 
Codes 208 said:
If they actually go through with this, it wont be a nail in the coffin. It'll be a damn railroad spike
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Not really. The rest of the industry will follow. You don't think Sony, Take-2 Interactive, EA, Tencent, SE etc are all chomping at the bit for game price increases. Now that one of the largest platform holders has broke the ice, every large publisher is going to price their big games $80. And select respective hardware and accessories higher.
 
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I do find it fascinating that Microsoft can't be directly criticized.

It's the generation that sucks.

Is it possible or evenly likely that Sony will follow suit? Sure, but let's actually wait for that to happen and criticize them equally when it does rather than proactively lumping them in with Microsoft and obfuscating the criticism here.

Also, gamers should realize how complicit they've been in making this a reality. The constant goings on about DEI/Woke helped lead us here, while ignoring economic realities of what tariffs would do to the industry and the gaming community.

Now are companies going to position themselves to take advantage of the situation? Absolutely, and that is where I'll echo people's suggestions of voting with their wallets. Don't buy games at 80 if you don't think the games are worth 80. Tell your friends to do the same.

I once posed the question to the board on how much you would pay for a 10/10 or 11/10 game and the results were interesting

Mibu no ookami

Thread 'How much would you pay for a 10/10 or 11/10 game?'

When you think back to your favorite games of all time, what's the most you would have paid to play them if you knew the impact and enjoyment you'd get out of them?

I think of games like Super Metroid, Final Fantasy 7, Chrono Trigger, Metal Gear Solid, Castlevania Symphony of the Night, Final Fantasy X, The Last of Us, Uncharted 2, Zelda A Link to the Past, and Super Mario World.

Personally, I think if a publisher is confident their game is the end all be all, I don't think they should feel compelled to max the price out according to other games.

If I knew what Chrono Trigger was...

A majority said they wouldn't pay more than 70 even if they knew the game was a masterpiece that would stick with them forever. We're going to see how honest people were being then.
 
Mibu no ookami said:
PS5 Pro about to sell out on Amazon. People and probably scalpers are running to not only buy as many Xboxes as possible but PS5s too. Seems like there is a targeted effort towards the PS5 Pro, you even have some xbox influencers talking about buying a PS5 Pro before a potential price increase.

The irony through all of this is you can still buy a PS5 Digital with Astro Bot on PS Direct for 400 dollars right now...
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What's crazy is that PS5 DE with Astro is basically XSS pricing. That's some really stupid shit.
 
reinking said:
This is a time where some people will have no choice but to speak with their wallets. I am not in panic mode yet but we could be witnessing the beginnings of a market correction if not a market collapse. They are pricing less fortunate gamers completely out of modern console gaming. I know, for some people it comes down to F the poor, but as someone who used to manage an EB/GS almost all of my customers were average people that were not wealthy and just getting by. I hate that this industry is starting to price them out.
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The double edged sword of being a lucrative market. It brings the benefits of money to make incredible games happen, that never could have otherwise, but you also bring in the MBAs and profit chasing that destroys art. The sad thing is the industry has decided profit max per unit is preferable now that userbase growth has stagnated.

ZehDon said:
If the world has taught us one thing since COVID, it's that industries know how to move together now. You can't boycott a specific party to force them back to the market price if everyone in that market raises their prices together. Sony moved to USD$70, everyone followed. Nintendo's moved to USD$80/USD$90, and everyone will follow.

The industry will need to crash and burn to force these companies to give up their greed at this point.
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It's a strange scenario, we are both in an era of unprecedented competition due to economies of scale, but so few giant platforms that are able to coordinate their activities quicker and more efficiently than ever before. The big issue is how customers are paying for stupid, inefficient wastes of money on the next flavor of the month extraction shooter, MOBA, F2P gacha, etc. All chasing the high of being the next WoW, PUBG, or Fortnite.

Unfortunately the end of free cheap loans are over, and we are seeing what that does to industries.
 
StereoVsn said:
What's crazy is that PS5 DE with Astro is basically XSS pricing. That's some really stupid shit.
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It's interesting to think about how many moving pieces there are right now.

Does Sony follow suit quickly to balance the market? Or have they stockpiled enough PS5s that they can continue to sell as is and use this opportunity to corner the market? Or does Sony stop and recognize that maybe the people buying Xboxes still have no interest in a PS5 and that eating the costs is only reducing the revenue and profit they'd make from people interested in a PS5.

I feel like they could probably wait a couple months to figure the answer to that question assuming they hae the inventory to do so.
 
Topher said:
Plot twist!



Drama Monkey GIF
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:messenger_tears_of_joy: You know XBox is truly fucked when even a shill like him abandons Xbox for a PS5 Pro lol.


MS had no business raising the price of their consoles or games. Their console wasn't selling at $500, now at $600 is completely dead in the water. Even if Nintendo raised their prices and Sony followed shortly after, MS should have resisted considering how bad their consoles are already selling at $500.
 
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Heisenberg007 said:
It's all strategic.

They first want to move more people into Game Pass (thinking that now games are $80 and too expensive, and GP would be better), before increasing the GP price.
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move from where?

by Phil's one words, GP has reached saturation on console. GP on PC is used as "renting/accessing" a game for cheaper than full-premium price

and if you are going to buy a game anyway, you will buy it on Steam.

I think this is Phil holding the line to delay this announcement. (the same mentality as in: "it's only four games")... or they are trying to do the math.


because this is the thing:

if already the amount of revenue a game is losing on GP compared to people buying it day one is insane at 60 or 70 dollars...at 80?! ...how can you do a "business" giving away, let say 75% of the game's revenue. completly insane

A game priced around 40-60 dollars (taking into account the inevitable GP price hike) will not only be more affordable but also a better value to buy rather than rent.

So, the wider the gap between the cost of buying a game and the Game Pass subscription, the harder it is to have a viable business. The closer the gap, the less value Game Pass will offer to the consumer.


GP on PC I think is 12 dollars... how expensive should it be to have a "business" .. I think from 1 to 5 dollars price increase will signify MS keeping this charade of magic metrics and creative accounting beyond that... 😬
 
StereoVsn said:
What's crazy is that PS5 DE with Astro is basically XSS pricing. That's some really stupid shit.
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That thing has a fuckton of promo budget spend on it (cost of a copy of Astro Bot + overall discount on the bundle price).

I don't think it will last long tbh.
 
FIREKNIGHT2029 said:
:messenger_tears_of_joy: You know XBox is truly fucked when even a shill like him abandons Xbox for a PS5 Pro lol.


MS had no business raising the price of their consoles or games. Their console wasn't selling at $500, now at $600 is completely dead in the water. Even if Nintendo raised their prices and Sony followed shortly after, MS should have resisted considering how bad their consoles are already selling at $500.
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He'll buy a PS5 Pro himself while telling others to keep buying XSX...
 
ZehDon said:
... both those these posts don't make any sense, frankly. If Xbox raising its hardware prices is a sign of Xbox admitting its hardware performance sucks, then PlayStation raising PS5 hardware prices two weeks ago must also be the same. If anyone could absorb the cost, it would be the gaming company currently having its most profitable console generation ever, rather than one who hasn't declared profit figures in nearly 10 years because, frankly, they're probably small enough to warrant hiding. Not seeing the logic, folks.
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Why are you struggling to understand it?

Xbox are in last place. They will have a significantly more difficult time making a comeback due to the new pricing.

PlayStation are not in last place; they are in first. They do not need to make a comeback.

Xbox raising their prices -- and not saying "Hey, we're in last place so let's not do the number one thing that will make it harder to sell consoles" -- signals to me that they've calculated the loss of customers and they've calculated the loss of profits. They've chosen that it's worth losing customers so that they don't lose profits.

This tells me that they don't see a comeback. If they did, they would comfortably absorb losses for the chance to win back market share.
 
My series x halo edition going up in value. I almost sold one of my ps5s the other day. It's all boxed up and ready to go. I think I'll wait to see if anything else happens but I doubt it will in the uk. Haven't they just gone up?

Anyway, it's an Xbox thread. The console business for them is in tatters.
 
StereoVsn said:
I am legit tempted to get the PS5 Pro since I can probably sell PS5 for more in a few weeks.

Not selling my XSX since I have a ton of BC and Xbox One games on it.
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I'm legit thinking the same thing. I'm trying to make some money but I could sell both my ps5s and migrate to one ps5 pro.

Tempting.
 
Unfortunatecookie said:
It tells me the costs (behind the scenes) have also risen for them. They're unwilling to lose money, so losing customers -- in the markets they've raised the pricing -- is worth it to their business.
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Ok, so in your opinion, the video game company making the most money right now is unwilling to lose any money, and that's fine - but the video game company making the least money right now also being unwilling to lose any money is a bad decision?
 
Aldynes said:
Never I would have imagined 5 years ago that this gen would see consoles keeping their launch price so long without a price cut...

Let alone fucking increase it!

This is a first, I don't think it has ever happened before in videogames, other products maybe?
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Meanwhile,journalists will tell us how much these poor companies "suffer"...they need money so much to "survive" (because nowadays survive is a synonim to greed)
face crying GIF


Can't wait for the industry to crash! And I hope it crashes so hard only the independent studios survive! We need a complete reset from this bullshit!

And slowly we're heading there.Its a sure thing at this point.

This shit is unsustainable. The very hardcore will keep it alive for the next years but casuals are what's keeping the industry alive as the budget inflated baloon it is right now,and normies won't buy a fucking PS6 at 1000 dollars with 80 dollar games and overpriced accessories I can tell you that much.
 
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ZehDon said:
Ok, so in your opinion, the video game company making the most money right now is unwilling to lose any money, and that's fine - but the video game company making the least money right now also being unwilling to lose any money is a bad decision?
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It should be fine for the PlayStation business because they're in first place. From a business point of view, if your direct competitor is 45-50 million units behind you, you can afford to make decisions that prioritize profits. It sucks for your potential customer base, but your accountants are going to sleep well knowing that the money coming in won't stop.

It's not a bad decision for Xbox's money; it's a bad decision for Xbox's potential userbase. If Xbox is making moves that work against a potential comeback, that's not great. It signals to me that they're throwing in the towel in the hardware race. Why would anyone want Xbox to be out of the picture?
 
Unfortunatecookie said:
... It signals to me that they're throwing in the towel in the hardware race. Why would anyone want Xbox to be out of the picture?
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So, Xbox not willing to lose money so they can continue to exist in the video game industry is a sign that they're throwing in towel in the hardware race... a race where they've already announced their next generation console hardware, and have taken enormous steps to get their games on more devices in order not to throw in the towel? That's your conclusion?
 
ZehDon said:
So, Xbox not willing to lose money so they can continue to exist in the video game industry is a sign that they're throwing in towel in the hardware race... a race where they've already announced their next generation console hardware, and have taken enormous steps to get their games on more devices in order not to throw in the towel? That's your conclusion?
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No.

Xbox raising prices is fine for their accountants. It is not fine for growing their userbase as unfortunately, price is a key factor in whether or not people buy a thing.

My conclusion is the less competitive the console/hardware market is, the worse it is for everyone. This is why a larger Xbox userbase is a good thing for the industry, and decisions that work against growing that userbase is a bad thing.

Do you want to see more Xbox users or less Xbox users?
 
Unfortunatecookie said:
... My conclusion is the less competitive the console/hardware market is, the worse it is for everyone. This is why a larger Xbox userbase is a good thing for the industry, and decisions that work against growing that userbase is a bad thing...
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I agree with the competition angle, but given the entire industry will adopt these prices in the next month or so, I'm not sure this is going to do irreparable harm to Xbox specifically. Analysts are already predicting Switch 2 price increases. Xbox will be priced the same as everyone else, meaning it's performance will be the same as it is now, or better if they actually start releasing games people want.
Unfortunatecookie said:
Do you want to see more Xbox users or less Xbox users?
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If Xbox gets shutdown because Microsoft isn't happy with it losing even more money, how many Xbox users would there be?
 
HeisenbergFX4 said:
When getting your teeth kicked in what else do you do?

Raise prices
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When getting your teeth kicked in you lower prices to compete better usually, especially when you're a multitrillion dollar company. At least that's what xbox fanboys kept repeating about xbox keeping Sony console prices in check with the "competition" they kept talking about throughout the gen. It was obvious to people that weren't trying to suck MS' dick that MS would screw the console market if it had less reliance on it though. I said this back in March:

Three said:
Then they pretend MS is our saviour for competition to keep Sony prices in line. Not with these MS prices they're not. If anything Sony is competing on price better than MS because they actually want to grow the console market installbase whereas it seems MS couldn't care less so they charge these stupid prices. The $599 Series X that they introduced was a complete joke too.
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This is now a clear reminder to xbox diehards that MS couldn't give a fuck about competing on price and they don't bring ANY price competition to Sony, not with that $730 Xbox Series X.
 
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Just having read a few takes on this wrt to how microsoft are shooting themselves in the foot here, I wonder if the politics of the situation are a bit less obvious than they first appear.

This isn't hugely nuanced, so I'm ok with people shooting this down, but nonetheless, I don't think it's a huge leap, if we think that Tariffs are part of the conversation when it comes to hardware, and accept that the Xbox business is part of Microsoft, that the US government is both a large customer of Microsoft and that that the company will consider good relations with the US government very important, for all kinds of business reasons, from monopolies to taxation, to legislation and on and on.

Trump wants Chinese produced goods to get more expensive. If corporations don't increase their prices, are they undermining the work of the government? Microsoft of course could afford to swallow the losses. But at what point does Donald Trump announce that the companies who are prepared to (temporarily) swallow the losses are Un-American and that government departments will no longer be using their products.

In a sane world, that'd never happen.

So, with that said, it's quite easy to see why Microsoft might have to be seen to be raising consumer product prices.
 
ZehDon said:
I agree with the competition angle, but given the entire industry will adopt these prices in the next month or so, I'm not sure this is going to do irreparable harm to Xbox specifically. Analysts are already predicting Switch 2 price increases. Xbox will be priced the same as everyone else, meaning it's performance will be the same as it is now, or better if they actually start releasing games people want.

If Xbox gets shutdown because Microsoft isn't happy with it losing even more money, how many Xbox users would there be?
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The harm may not be irreparable, but if everyone is raising their prices then the least in demand product (in this case, Xbox consoles) will suffer the most.

Your second point is why this sucks for their hardware business. If Microsoft says "No more losses" but the losses -- specifically, a loss leader model -- is necessary to grow the userbase, then Xbox leadership is screwed.
 


Just blaming tariffs for this is incredibly short sighted. Tarrifs play a part, as they should (China needs to be challenged, Trump's doing it with a crowbar and there might be more elegant ways go go about that but he's right when it comes to China), but this is largely corporate greed, being in bondage to unsustainable, infinite growth and the shareholders and the signature MS ignorance of the reality of the market. Gaming is a luxury good, people and corporations tend to forget that, but luxury goods are the first to go if money's tight.
The industry is going to learn that very quickly.
 
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