Xbox is celebrating 25 years by dressing your console in nostalgia

Microsoft has raised the prices of Xbox consoles globally due to increasing costs associated with memory and storage chips. The premium Series X console, which originally retailed at £500, is now priced at £670. Furthermore, the baseline Xbox Series S console has seen a significant price hike from £300 to £430, marking a 43% increase.

This move by Microsoft comes after rival tech companies, like Sony, increased PlayStation 5 prices by £90 in March. Microsoft had hoped that another price increase would not be necessary, but the rising costs of console storage and memory led to this decision.

In the United States, the basic consoles increased in price by $100 to $499, while the cost of a console with more memory rose by $150 to $749. Similar price hikes have been reported in the EU, with a Series S console with more storage costing about €200 more than before. Other tech giants, such as Valve, have also faced rising component and storage costs, leading to higher prices for their devices.

Both Microsoft and Sony have faced criticism for passing these increased costs onto consumers, particularly for products released several years ago.

The rising costs have not gone unnoticed, with some consumers expressing their discontent on social media. X user @BlackPanthaa called the new Xbox Series S price "absolutely disgusting," while another Reddit user described it as "highway robbery" for a console released six years ago. Some are concerned that console prices, which have been raised across the board in recent months, could continue to increase. Windows Central editor Jez Corden expressed his belief that these price increases may not be the limit.

Amazon's gaming boss recently suggested to the BBC that rising hardware costs could lead more people to abandon consoles in favor of streaming games. Microsoft's gaming division has also faced challenges, with the company announcing a significant restructuring, including the reduction of approximately 3,200 employees across its workforce in July.