You can see a breakdown of the American price jumps here, and they’re not that modest. The Xbox Series X—the higher-end model of the two, with a physical disc drive, more storage, and 4K resolution—is going up by a full $100, with a new price of $599.99. If you want to get really fancy with it, the Xbox Series X Galaxy Black Special Edition with a 2 terabyte hard drive is now a whopping $729.99. The cheapest model, the Xbox Series S 512, gets an $80 increase for a new price of $379.99, whereas the Series S 1TB model jumps to $429.99. And if you want the more impressive visuals of the Xbox Series X but without the convenience of a physical disc drive, for some reason, the Xbox Series X Digital edition is now $549.99. (Seriously, just pay the extra $50 for a disc drive; you’ll be happy you did.) Similar price increases will hit the console throughout the rest of the world; you can find a detailed breakdown of those increases on the Xbox site.
Even if you already own one of the Xbox Series models, you’re still getting hit by these price hikes. Microsoft-published games will cost as high as $79.99 at launch, starting later this year. The “core” Xbox wireless controller jumps to $64.99, with colored models fetching an extra five bucks. Special and limited edition controllers will cost $79.99 and $89.99, respectively. The Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 core model is now $149.99, whereas the “full” model will set you back $199.99. And stereo headsets weigh in at $64.99, with wireless headsets costing $119.99.
If you’re a Game Pass subscriber, you’ll be happy to know that the subscription price is not going up at this time. Given how many eggs Microsoft has put into the Game Pass basket, it’s tempting to think the price increase on games is an attempt to goose subscription rates—and hey, there’s no evidence to prove otherwise, so feel free to believe that.
As unusual as it is for console prices to go up during a system’s life cycle, this actually isn’t the first time Microsoft has raised the price of its Xbox Series X models—at least outside the U.S. They started charging more for the higher-end Xbox Series units throughout Europe, Canada and Australia in 2023, while leaving prices untouched in the U.S., Japan, and South America. Traditionally these machines get cheaper as technology improves and manufacturing costs decrease, but with the instability the U.S. is forcing upon the global economy, clearly Microsoft felt a need to go in the opposite direction. With the full impact of Trump’s tariffs still unclear, who knows if this will be the only Xbox price increase we see this year—or if Sony will soon follow with the price of its PlayStation 5 models.
