Xbox Wanted To Win Players Over By Not Raising Prices To Match PS5, Court Docs Show
Xbox wanted to stay «gamer-obsessed.»
By George Yang on
Back in August 2022, Microsoft reacted to Sony raising the price of PlayStation 5 consoles and indicated that it wanted to remain competitive by not doing the same with Xbox Series X|S.
According to FTC filings and internal emails (first reported by The Verge), Xbox CFO Tim Stuart told Phil Spencer and Microsoft CFO Amy Hood that the Xbox team had anticipated PlayStation's decision to increase prices of its console. Ami Silverman, former head of consumer sales and marketing, said that Microsoft should be «gamer-obsessed» as it has «not gotten out of the woods...we know this could our time to win fans vs lose being a follower.» This info comes as part of ongoing disclosure discussions related to Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
What Silverman is most likely referring to is Xbox's position against PlayStation, who is the market leader. Even Microsoft publicly admitted that Xbox had «lost the console wars» against PlayStation and Nintendo. Microsoft also put out a statement in August 2022 saying that it is constantly evaluating the business and wasn't looking to raise prices at the moment.
Microsoft eventually increased the price of the Xbox Series X back in June in most markets except for US, Japan, Chile, Brazil and Colombia. Microsoft also increased the monthly subscription prices for the base version of Xbox Game Pass by $1.
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