Inflation and the state of the global economy have prompted Sony to raise the price of its PlayStation 5 systems, which has caught the gaming industry off guard. However, Microsoft will not do the same with their Xbox Series X|S consoles now that the business has set the precedent.
WindowsCentral(opens in new tab) contacted Microsoft about the pricing of its newest Xbox systems and received a rather clear response. A little over two years after its release, Microsoft’s Xbox Series X game system is still selling out faster than it can produce them. Amazon only sells these systems to select clients who have been sent an invitation.
On the other hand, Newegg exclusively sells Series X in bundles (opens in the new tab) that cost more than the suggested retail price of $499 (the cheapest of which is a $709 bundle). Microsoft has no immediate plans to increase the price of the Xbox Series X despite the fact that demand has far outstripped supply.
Microsoft’s most recent Xbox Series X and Series S gaming consoles aren’t quite as popular as Sony’s PlayStation 5, which has sold over 22 million systems worldwide. Meanwhile, in Japan and Europe, Sony’s PlayStation has consistently been more popular than Microsoft’s Xbox.
Sony’s PlayStation 5 and Microsoft’s newest Xbox Series X|S both use AMD-designed system-on-chips with Zen 2 general-purpose cores and an RDNA 2-based graphics processing unit. Microsoft and Sony’s newest consoles share the same system architecture and RAM and storage capacity but are incompatible with one another (16GB GDDR6, 1TB storage).
Foxconn and Flextronics make Xbox consoles for Microsoft, while Sony relies on its own factories and Foxconn’s manufacturing expertise. While both firms have reported difficulties sourcing components, increasing output, managing logistics, and keeping up with price increases, only Sony has raised the price of its PS5.
“We’re always assessing what we’re doing to make sure our players have access to the best possible games. Our recommended retail price for Xbox Series S is still $299 (£250, €300), and the MSRP for Xbox Series X is $499 (£450, €500).”
