Microsoft has announced that has no plans to increase Xbox prices and that the recommended price (MSRP) of its consoles will remain the same as before regardless of the currency or region where it is sold.
“We are constantly evaluating our business to offer our fans the best options to play. Our suggested retail price for the Xbox Series S remains at $299 (£250, €300) and the Xbox Series X is $499 (£450, €500).they have explained from Microsoft in a statement to Windows Central.
The clarification of the maintenance of the price of Xbox consoles comes after Sony’s surprise announcement made in the week of Gamescom 2022 of a PlayStation 5 price hike. The news has caused quite a stir in the gaming community and sparked fears that Microsoft (or Nintendo with the Switch) would adopt a similar strategy.
It will not be the case of the Xbox … for now. It’s important to note that Microsoft has stated that it has no plans for a price increase “at this time,” but that doesn’t mean it won’t in the future.
The price is a critical aspect in the sale of electronic products and more so in video game consoles where the two giants and competitors, Sony and Microsoft, (Nintendo is on their own) had traced the sale price of their consoles at launch. From now on, and -we repeat- at least in the short term, Microsoft will be able to take advantage of its lower sales value to make them more attractive.
That is if the manufacture and distribution is normalized because two years later it is impossible to buy the latest consoles from Microsoft or Sony for the price set by the manufacturers. Something similar has happened with dedicated graphics cards, although this segment has had its own problems and today it is practically normalized.
We must insist that the launch of the latest generation of consoles has been an unmitigated disaster due to the lack of stock and this has led to mafia behavior where resellers and speculators have made a great deal to the detriment of the players.
The PS5 price increase, although it is important and affects all regions except the United States, is not the biggest problem in the sector. It is simply impossible to buy it at the recommended price. Tip to finish: don’t buy consoles above MSRP. Your pocket will suffer and you will feed the speculative ‘monster’ even more.
