First Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S price hikes revealed
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After last year’s PS5 price hike, Microsoft has announced its own increase. Although it only affects one region so far. Xbox Series X and Series S prices will increase in Japan on February 17.
A price increase of 5,000 yen for both Microsoft consoles will take effect next month. That’s the equivalent of $38.33 / £31.14 / AU$54.84. This raises the MSRP of the Xbox Series X from 54,978 yen to 59,978 yen, while the Xbox Series S rises from 32,278 yen to 37,978 yen – now it costs $459.67 / £373.02 / AU$656.82 and $ 291.10 / £236.20 / AU$415.90 , respectively.
“After careful evaluation of market conditions in Japan, we have decided to change the MSRP of Xbox consoles in the country,” Microsoft Japan said in a statement. Gematsu (opens in new tab). “We regularly evaluate the impact of local pricing to maintain reasonable consistency across regions. This price review impacts our customers and was a difficult decision to make, but going forward we will continue to deliver the ultimate Xbox experience our customers expect.”
This increase follows Xbox boss Phil Spencer’s refusal rule out a price increase last year. Spencer made it clear that “[Microsoft’s] always evaluating our business going forward, so I don’t think we can ever say we’ll never do anything. It seems that Xbox has decided to do “something” after all, at least when it comes to the Japanese market.
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The yen has struggled with the dollar throughout 2022. Although he has been steadily recovering since November, the exchange rate concerns may well add up to the “local pricing” concerns that Microsoft referred to Japan in its statement. It is still unclear whether or not the yen will recover, so caution on the part of Microsoft’s Japanese arm makes sense given the more delicate economic climate.
From Game Pass to significant Black Friday deals, Microsoft has been offering some great deals on Xbox over the last few years, with Sony often looking the part out of range for comparison. However, we know that Microsoft is raise the price of first-party exclusives, so maybe even more price hikes are possible in the future. In last year’s interview, Spencer made it clear that “we have no plans to increase the price of our consoles today,” but he made no promises about future price increases.
It is possible, though certainly not confirmed, that the Japanese price hikes are some form of market testing for a more global price increase. While we have no idea whether or not Microsoft plans to push price increases outside of Japan, I’d advise buying sooner rather than later if you’re in the market for a new console just to be on the safe side.