Microsoft to Increase Price of the Xbox Series X and S in the US Again - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 19 September 2025 / 16,588 Views
Microsoft announced it is raising the price of the Xbox Series X and S consoles once again in the US "due to changes in the macroeconomic environment."
The price of the consoles will increase in the US on October 3. The Xbox Series S 512GB model will increase from $379.99 to $399.99, while the standard Xbox Series X will increase from $599.99 to $649.99.
The price for the Xbox Series X and S consoles first increased in May of this year by $80 for the Xbox Series S and $100 for the Xbox Series X.
"Beginning on October 3, we will update the recommended retailer pricing for Series S and Series X consoles in the United States due to changes in the macroeconomic environment," stated Microsoft.
"We understand that these changes are challenging, and they were made with careful consideration. Looking ahead, we continue to focus on offering more ways to play more games across any screen and providing value for Xbox players."
The price increase for the Xbox Series X and S consoles is only for the US and will remain unchanged in the rest of the world.
"Pricing in countries outside the U.S. remains the same," said Microsoft. "Local pricing may differ by country to reflect exchange rates and other market conditions."
Here are the new prices in the US:
- Xbox Series S 512 - $399.99 (was $379.99, before May price increase it was $299.99)
- Xbox Series S 1TB - $449.99 (was $429.99, before May it was $349.99)
- Xbox Series X Digital - $599.99 (was $549.99, before May it was $449.99)
- Xbox Series X - $649.99 (was $599.99, before May it was $499.99)
- Xbox Series X 2TB Galaxy Special Edition - $799.99 (was $729.99, before May it was $599.99)
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
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Is America GREAT yet?
Don't get distracted.
I guess sales were too high for their liking...
Scary thing is... you might be right. This may be an underhanded way of pushing Xbox cloud.
spot on. This is deliberate
I think the only reason it's USA is because USA is the only region left where Xbox has any meaningful sales. The only region where it's even possible for price to impact sales at all
Tariffs. There is actual evidence that is happening, rather than a conspiracy it's to push cloud.
Tariffs alone cannot convince MS that it is a good idea to sell a 5 year old console for 800$.
No business wants to lose even more money from tariffs. That's just stupid business practices. The increase in cost for a company to make something will always will passed to consumer. Blame trump
Yes tarrifs did impact this, but if we were completely honest if Microsoft actually cared about staying competitive in the console space they wouldn't have raised the price of their consoles twice and have their main console be 100-150$ more than the PS5, the console that's currently killing them right now. It isnt a conspiracy to think that Microsoft is doing this to deliberately move away from high console sales in favor of focusing on other aspects of their business
Even a megacorp like Microsoft can't eat staggering losses on underperforming hardware indefinitely just to undercut a competitor that they can never hope to catch., especially when the government is imposing artificial costs on it. That's where the "conspiracy" part comes in. Not everything has some hidden agenda. Microsoft needs to justify some of the costs they've sunk into this venture to their board and their shareholders, full stop.
The XBSS has been sold as low as 150$ brand new, and the XBSX 350$ brand new. If they were able to eat the losses on consoles at those prices, why can't they eat the cost on a XBSS at 380$, and XBSX digital/physical at 550/600$.
Maybe they weren't eating any cost at that price? It's already over double what the lowest price of sale was
Microsoft will likely continue to coast this generation along and ensure minimal financial loss and maximum profitability.
Will be interesting to see if they are significantly reinvigorated next-gen and pull out some of the stops.
All console manufacturers have increased prices.
It's not just a Microsoft issue (Although, they seem ready to capitalize on it far more quickly than others.)
The price issues are multi-pronged.
1) Tariffs in the USA apply price pressures in the USA and further down the logistics line for components.
2) NAND oversupply early in the year caused NAND manufacturers to cut production, leading to a price rise.
3) A.I. is gobbling up additional NAND at an unprecedented rate, which is causing NAND to increase in price. (It's a commodity product so pricing is based on supply/demand)
4) TSMC having a monopoly on fabrication has initiated price rises across the board multiple times.
5) Inflation, partly due to an over-abundance of cheap money during COVID has reduced the purchasing power of various currencies across the globe.
6) Manufacturers are pivoting away from China and spinning up manufacturing in places like South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam and other regions which comes with a cost impact.
7) Xbox Series X uses a larger and more expensive SoC than the Playstation 5.
Microsoft is just reacting and passing on the buck quicker than others.
It also doesn't help that Microsoft hasn't really done any cost-optimizations to the Xbox Series S and X by simplifying their designs to any significant degree either.
There are probably other pricing pressures as well that we may not know about... Namely giving a return to shareholders is a primary goal for Microsoft to optimize share prices and boost market cap... Which is likely the main reason why they refuse to sell the Xbox consoles at a loss and recoup via game sales and subscriptions.
But in the USA's specific case... Trumps tariffs are an extra tax on all imported goods to the USA that American citizens must pay.
"7) Xbox Series X uses a larger and more expensive SoC than the Playstation 5."
Once again Mark Cerny comes out looking like a genius when it comes to hardware design. Him going smaller and higher speed, to save abit on the chip, at the cost of performance, really did save them this gen. It's impossible to predict all the stuff that happend, like the Tariffs.... but man.
A smaller chip that dumps a higher current in order to boost clockrates can have the same hit to yields as a larger chip with lower current and clockrates.
But once the fab gets a handle on yields, Sony will get more chips per wafer than Microsoft.
So at the start of the generation they likely had roughly the same chip cost, but today? Sony would have the advantage.
But Sony has a far more expensive SSD than Microsoft, so that eroded some of that advantage.
Sony made the right choice for the duration of the generation.
Price of most PS5 with 1TB and and Disc drive is 549. Price of Xbox with 1TB and disc drive is 649. Thats $100 more expensive.
Price of 1TB Digital PS5 is 499. Price of Digital Xbox is 599. Thats $100 more expensive.
The fact that the 2TB Xbox is 799 while the 2TB PS5 Pro is 729 is crazy.
Now yes with the price increase. Before that it wasn't that much of a difference
You were doing so well with prices until you mentioned PS5 pro
https://direct.playstation.com/en-us/hardware/ps5
1tb ps 5 pro is 749. Nice try there.
If Xbox is increasing their price , Sony will do theirs next. It's coming..
Keep in mind that the Playstation 5 Pro's chip is 279mm2 and is built at 4nm.
Xbox Series X was 360mm2 and built at 7nm.
Microsoft did shrink the chip down to TSMC 6nm which would bring it to around 313mm2.
Sony if it has a high yield rate, would be getting more functional chips per wafer than the Series X so they may actually be roughly the same price as TSMC 4nm is more expensive than 6nm.
"no, it's not tariffs, if it's tariffs then why it's going up in Europe as well?"
Prices go up twice in a roll in the US
"No, it's still not tariffs, I will stay in denial!"
At this rate I will be able to retire off my launch Xbox Series X and Playstation 5 due to constantly going up in value.
Video games have been a better investment than stocks, lol.
Since the increase in value is nothing compared to the rise in Australian house prices.I'm waiting for the time that the Playstation size increases is enough for Sony to enter the housing market and help solve our housing shortage by making a PS tiny home edition, followed by the PS Pro 3 bedroom console.
That would give a new meaning to “PlayStation Home.” Remember Home?
Yes spent a good amount of time there doing stuff with my apartment and wandering around playing those mini games.
Now it sits among the long list of good ideas that failed by being to ambitous for its time, having said that I wouldn't mind seeing what a Home 2.0 looked like using todays tech.
I've got a new video on YouTube where I go over the new Xbox Series X and S price increase in the US.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssAbkOeUHfQ
Sony is loving this
holy Shit! I've seen it all now
Nah,more to come trust me i give you a hint
6
Digital only 600$
sony laughed at the Xone price also
What's so "special" about the galaxy "special edition" that it's price raised by $200 as opposed to the other two XSX the only raised by $150?
Remember when a new generation would come out and we'd all be predicting when the console would get it's first price cut? and then second price cut with a new slim model or something?
Not only do consoles not get price cuts anymore, they actually go up in price now.. multiple times. They can blame tariffs but they increased the price in 2023 too.
We also have the most people playing games now than ever before. So much money being spent on none tangible product. Everyone is talking about how digital has taken over and there is ZERO physical footprint on that. Yet...prices keep going up.
I say this when people say games should be more expensive because of inflation, yet there are more sales of games than ever and they're mostly a digital product. Games cost $60 in the past because the units sold x 60 was enough to make money.
the units sold has gone up so much + MTX that 60-70 is still enough to make a lot of money, but gotta keep shareholders happy.
I guess people should use their better judgement and buy a Switch 2 soon.
Switch 2 will be the next system to receive a price increase after the Holidays
Hence "soon."
Yeah, I think there's a near 100% chance of that.
If they are using their better judgement and interested at all in Xbox then they will likely choose PS5 because of the closely related game libraries, especially if they want 3rd party games day 1 on release.
Looking forward to the PS6 and NeXtBox costing $800+ at launch.
At this point, Microsoft has definitely given up on consoles.
Xbox committing PR suicide in real time.
Only among the very small segment of gamers that hang out in forums like this one. Video game console pricing doesn't get significant attention in the mainstream media. So, there's no significant PR issue.
That's a pretty L take here. The simple answer is tariffs. Not hard to see that
.
This genn is getting worse and worse with no end in sight wtf.
This whole tariff thing is a blessing to billionaires. They can gouge us, and we don't even notice because we're too busy screaming at the White House.
But there is a billionaire living in the White House who is the number one cause of this. Also he regularly invites over his billionaire friends as they conspire together. Or have you not seen the photos?
I am not going to let him distract me while I get butt-rammed. The issue here is Microsoft being greedy. Nothing more. They can try to point their fingers at the orange clown all they want, I will not waiver. They don't have to raise prices like this. They earn more than enough to eat the costs. It's on them, period.
And the same can be said for everything else. Right now, it's conquer and divide. They want us to fight one another. They want us consumed with rage so they can pillage our rights, freedoms, health care and everything else. I will not allow it.
We need to stand together as a people. Because the only enemy right now are the two sides pitting us against one another. Everything else is just slight of hand.
Nah, it is all Trump's (and his supporters) fault. You can keep deluding yourself all you want though. Have fun!
There is only one enemy, and it's not a political party. It's corruption (greed and megalomania). We will either stand together, reject their attempts to distract us with hate and violence and finger-pointing and defeat it, or we will divide and fail.
I choose the former.
You are definitely letting yourself be distracted while the orange clown butt-ram you.
How so? He is a greedy megalomaniac, is he not? And didn't I already just state that anyone who is is the enemy of the state?
But here's the thing: one man can not pull this stuff off. It takes many other men and women to do it. You can't pass the big disgraceful bill without other willing megalomaniacs and greedy assholes to sign off on it... and that's my point.
They want us to see each other as enemies instead of Americans. So they pit us against one another. They blame minorities and people without any power, tell you they are evil, tell you they are to blame, tell you that anyone who is blue/red is evil... and while you're busy going online, telling people like me I am wrong, they are taking your damn healthcare away, or abortion rights, or this or that... and you just willing fall for it. Every. Time.
So no, I am not distracted. I am not looking at the fake fires they are all pointing at. I'm watching them pillage under your nose while you're busy yelling at me like I'm the one responsible.
How does that make sense?
It is clear that Sony and MS have both decided that they're not going to subsidize consoles to a significant degree. You can look at the market and see the obvious business reasons for that. Microsoft is not trying to compete, so they have no incentive to subsidize. Sony doesn't have competition. So they have no reason to subsidize.
Add to that the significantly higher than usual global inflation of the last several years and you have upward pressure on prices with no business reason to keep prices low. Thus, prices rise.
Then you have the US tariff situation causing upward pressure on prices there. Because of the impulsive nature of the Trump administration, many companies tried to wait a while before reacting to tariffs in the hopes that they would be removed or reduced. But, they don't wait forever.
It is also important to keep in mind that changes in the US affect the entire world. Some of that is because of the enormous size of the US economy. But it also has to do with the fact that US trade policy has kicked off a global trade war, so other countries react to the US's stupid policies with stupid policies of their own. And then you just have the whole world behaving like a bunch of idiots.
And that brings us to this point, where not only are console prices not going down like they used to, but they keep going up, and up, and up.
It's ok, MAGA told us the consumers don't pay the tariffs and that this will bring all of the manufacturing here to the US. Any day now, we'll be swimming in $40 consoles made by red blooded 'muricans.
FREEDOM BABY!
Xbox should be cheaper than PS5 to help it with sales imo.... this is gonna hurt sales in the US.
It should be cheaper but this is what happens when there's more money in microtransactions and subscriptions than hardware or standalone software.
This is never going to end, is it?
Sorry. This ain't mom-and-pops, here. This is Microsoft we're talking about. And when you're Microsoft, it's on you if the prices go up, not the tariffs. They would rather the average person with five maxed-out credit cards that's just trying to give their poor children a Christmas to take the hit instead of them. That's basically it.
Wow....
Greedy corps. They all forget who got them there in the first place.
I honestly did not see this coming since a few months ago they already increased the prices. I think Sony and Nintendo will do the same... again.
Expecting Sony to do the same in response. Genuinely wondering when the breaking point is for casual gamers.
Those prices even for the PS isn't for the casuals. Casuals come in when the price starts to drop for consoles. At this rate all systems will be getting stagnant soon.
But i feel like its gonna really hurt them when ps6 xbox whatever launch and barely anyone upgrades. If they're anywhere near $700 or more, i'll just stick with last gen for awhile and im definitely better off than some
really interesting to see prices for next gen now especially if tariffs go away.
Why would tariffs go away? Even if they do every console that comes to the USA will be charged the tariff from months ago to when they stop. So supply chain would need to sell through the consoles on store shelves that were charged the tariff before they can drop.
i think the economy will be in the dumpster and tariffs will get removed IMO.
