The price of video games continues to go up, as Microsoft increases the cost of Xbox Series S and Series X hardware and software.
There’s something of a struggle going on in the gaming industry for new titles to get noticed and break through. Against that, once-respected websites are being bought up by a parent company better known for – in our opinion – clickbait farms. It’s all a bit grim, at a point where a Switch 2 game is going to cost £74.99.
Now, in America at least, Microsoft has announced a whole bunch of price rises coming across its Xbox range. This will affect both hardware and software.
The Xbox Series X is going up by $100 to $599.99, it’s been announced, while the cost of the Xbox Series S is going up as well. There’s no change that we know of in the product specs. It used to be that the price of a machine would decline over its lifespan. Welcome to the new normal.
The cost of the most expensive games is also going up, too. Those games are going to be selling for $79.99 on shop shelves, and that equates on current exchange rates to £60. We’ve been around long enough to know that it never involves a fair exchange rate, though.
Microsoft will also be increasing the prices of its game controllers and such like, and speculation is rife that it’s Donald Trump’s tariffs that are to blame. It’s not as if Microsoft’s bottom line was suffering, but still: big corporations need more money, and Microsoft is no exception.
No wonder in the midst of this that it’s free to play titles such as Fortnite that continue to thrive. Gaming used to be a relatively affordable hobby, but the eyebrow-raising pricing of the Switch 2 has been a bit of a jolting moment there. It wasn’t like this in the days of Mastertronic and its pocket money range, chums. Look it up, and dream of BMX Simulator.
We await news of the Xbox UK pricing, but we’re not expecting good things.
