Microsoft has announced a global price increase for its Xbox console range, citing rising memory and storage chip costs driven by growing demand across the technology industry.
The flagship Xbox Series X console with a disc drive will now retail for £670 in the UK, up from its previous price of £500, while the entry-level Xbox Series S has increased from £300 to £430, representing a price rise of around 43%.
The move follows similar pricing decisions by several major technology companies as increasing component costs continue to impact the consumer electronics market.
Microsoft said in June it had hoped to avoid another price increase but explained that the continued rise in the cost of memory and storage components had made higher retail prices unavoidable.
In the United States, the standard Xbox console has increased by $100 to $499, while higher-capacity models have risen by $150, taking the price of premium versions to $749.
Price increases have also been introduced across Europe, with the higher-storage Xbox Series S model costing around €200 more than its previous retail price.
The gaming industry has seen a broader trend of rising hardware prices. Sony increased PlayStation 5 prices by £90 earlier this year, while Valve launched its PC-console hybrid at a significantly higher price than many consumers had anticipated.
Manufacturers say the increases are largely being driven by higher costs for essential hardware components, particularly RAM and storage chips, which have become more expensive as artificial intelligence companies compete for the same semiconductor supply.
Graphics processing units (GPUs), another key component used in gaming consoles and PCs, have also become more costly due to soaring demand from AI data centres and generative AI applications.
Despite the industry-wide pressures, some consumers and industry observers have criticised manufacturers for passing rising production costs directly to customers, particularly for gaming consoles that have already been on the market for several years.
