Xbox boss won’t rule out Xbox Series X price hike in the future
Going up
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Xbox boss Phil Spencer has saidMicrosoftdoesn’t plan to raise the price of its flagship consoles in the near future, but hasn’t ruled out a price hike down the line.
AfterSonyraised the priceof thePS5last month in response to rising manufacturing costs, consumers have been wondering if Microsoft will follow suit. Speaking toCNBCin a recent interview, Spencer confirmed that while the tech giant doesn’t have any plans to do so for the moment, that could change.
“We’re always evaluating our business going forward, so I don’t think we can ever say on anything that we will never do something,” Spencer said.
“I can definitely say we have no plans today to raise the price of our consoles. In a time when customers are more economically challenged and uncertain than ever, we don’t think it’s the right move for us, at this point, to be raising prices on our consoles.”
A big misstep
Spencer said the Xbox business model was underpinned by value for money, highlighting the success it’s seen with the digital-onlyXbox Series S. An affordable alternative to theXbox Series X, the cut-rate hardware now accounts for over half of Xbox sales.
Microsoft will likely want to keep hold of that advantage, and hope it’s not disrupted by theglobal chip shortagethat Sony’s used to excuse the PS5 price hike. So far, the Xbox Series S has been more resistant tomanufacturing shortagesthan the other current-gen consoles, as its weaker chipset means its components can be sourced and produced more easily.
Combined with the value ofXbox Game Pass– which only soars when you grab a subscription at abargain price– the Xbox Series S is one of the most affordable hardware options on the current gaming market. A price hike would be a big misstep for Microsoft, significantly undermining the console’s primary selling point.
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That’s especially true if Nintendo keeps the price of theNintendo Switchlevel, as president Shuntaro Furukawa toldNikkeiit would do last month. For now, Sony is the odd one out. Microsoft will be keen to use that to their advantage for as long as possible.
Callum is TechRadar Gaming’s News Writer. You’ll find him whipping up stories about all the latest happenings in the gaming world, as well as penning the odd feature and review. Before coming to TechRadar, he wrote freelance for various sites, including Clash, The Telegraph, and Gamesindustry.biz, and worked as a Staff Writer at Wargamer. Strategy games and RPGs are his bread and butter, but he’ll eat anything that spins a captivating narrative. He also loves tabletop games, and will happily chew your ear off about TTRPGs and board games.
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