Key Highlights:
- Microsoft is raising prices on the Xbox Series X Series and S globally due to development costs and U.S. tariffs.
- Xbox first-party games raise the price to $79.99 in 2025.
Key facts:
- The Xbox Series X costs $599.99; S Series models range from $379.99 to $429.99.
- Controllers and headphones will also receive price increases.
Key background
Microsoft's price rises on Xbox Series X and S consoles, accessories and first-party games on May 1, 2025. The Xbox Series X is now priced at $599.99, up $100, the Series S is priced at $379.99 for the 512GB SKU and the 1TB SKU is priced at $429.99. The Xbox controller costs $64.99 and the headset costs $119.99. First-party Xbox Games will rise to $79.99 from the 2025 holiday season.
Microsoft attributes the price increase to rising development costs and solely through economic pressures (such as tariffs on Chinese imports to the United States). The company reiterated that this is a cautious consideration of market conditions and an increase in development costs due to rising prices. Despite the price increase, Microsoft reported a very strong fiscal quarter when it reported a significant increase in pre-orders and pre-installation for PlayStation and Xbox consoles.
These price increases are consistent with the price increases in the gaming space, namely Sony's PS5 console. Both companies explain their salary increase at the doorstep of inflation and global economic pressure. Even at those astronomical prices, both companies are preparing for the holidays, predicting strong consumer demand, and struggling with higher costly development and manufacturing costs.
Often, Microsoft's Xbox price rise is a general direction for the video game industry, where increasing economic power determines the direction of what happens next. Video gamers will pay increasingly higher dollars for their video game software and hardware as Sony and Microsoft react to the growing economy.
