First Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S price hikes revealed
After last year’s PS5 price hike, Microsoft has announced its own increase. Though, so far it is only affecting one region. Xbox Series X and Series S prices are set to rise in Japan on February 17.
A price hike of 5,000 yen across both Microsoft consoles is set to come into effect next month. That’s the equivalent of $38.33 / £31.14 / AU$ 54.84. This will raise the suggested retail price of the Xbox Series X from 54,978 yen to 59,978 yen, while the Xbox Series S will rise from 32,278 yen to 37,978 yen – now costing $459.67 / £373.02 / AU$656.82 and $291.10 / £236.20 / AU$415.90, respectively.
“After carefully evaluating the market condition in Japan, we have decided to change the suggested retail price of Xbox consoles in the country,” Microsoft Japan said in a statement translated by Gematsu(opens in new tab). “We regularly evaluate the impact of local pricing to maintain reasonable consistency across regions. This price revision affects our customers and was a difficult decision to make, but going forward we will continue to provide the ultimate Xbox experience that our customers expect”.
This increase follows Xbox boss Phil Spencer’s refusal to rule out a price hike last year. Spencer made it clear that “[Microsoft’s] always evaluating our business going forward, so I don’t think we can ever say on anything that we will never do something.” It looks like Xbox has decided to do “something” after all, at least when it comes to the Japanese market.
The Yen has been struggling against the dollar throughout 2022. Though it has been steadily recovering since November, exchange rate anxieties may well count towards the “local pricing” concerns that Microsoft Japan mentioned in its statement. It is still unclear whether or
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