Microsoft quietly launches massive Xbox price hike overnight as Series X hits $800
What have we done to anger the gaming gods so much? 2026 was supposed to be a year of celebration, with PlayStation players getting Marvel's Wolverine, Xbox fans enjoying Gears of War: E-Day, Switch owners basking in the glory of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake, and the Goliath that is GTA VI eclipsing the competition.
Unfortunately, the second half of the year has got off to a bad start, with confirmation that GTA VI isn't getting a physical release teeing up Sony's announcement that it's stopping discs in January 2028.
Xbox then swept in with yet more layoffs, earning CEO Asha Sharma the somewhat unfair nickname of the Grim Reaper as several gaming studios were 'restructured'.
Even Nintendo hasn't escaped this quagmire of misery, with the price of the Switch 2 climbing from $449.99 to $499.99 on September 1.
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The gaming world is in disarray right now, with RAMageddon being blamed for price hikes as everyone scrambles to feed their chip-hungry AI machines.
Xbox is back in the firing line, this time for putting up the price of its flagship Series X console...again.
Xbox Series X price tag hits $800
Back when the Xbox Series X was launched in November 2020, the baseline manufacturer's suggested retail price was $499.99 for the 1TB disc drive model. That was followed by an $80-$100 rise in May 2025, and a second in October 2025, adding anywhere between another $20 and $70.
Confirmed earlier in the year, a major global restructuring sees 1TB models get another $150 increase in the USA, while the 2TB model has been completely discontinued due to soaring SSD storage costs.
The USA got a 25% price hike, whereas those in the UK and EU were stung by a £170/€200 increase of around 30%.
As consoles head into the latter half of their life cycle, you might expect discounts as companies want to keep you buying their stocks of tech while they gear up for the release of what comes next.
Issues like COVID-19 affecting the supply chain, President Donald Trump's trade tariffs, and the AI boom have all contributed to prices staying high, but to actually see them increase nearly six years into this generation is truly something
In a June 2026 confirmation of the hikes, Microsoft defended itself as it explained: "Unfortunately, console storage and memory prices have increased by more than 2.5x and we expect another doubling by the fall of 2027. The entire consumer electronics industry is struggling with the current components crisis, but the effects are particularly hard on consoles."
The Xbox Series X doesn't escape unscathed
Even more alarming is the fact that the Xbox Series S is also going up in price. Seen as the budget alternative, and with its critics branding it as little more than a Game Pass machine, the 1TB model's new price tag of $599.99/£519.99/€599.99 is crazy. This means the underpowered Series S is now the same price that the beefier Series X was at launch.
A breakdown of the pricing has raised more than a few eyebrows, with the Xbox Series lineup now looking as follows in the USA:
- Xbox Series S (512GB) – $499.99 (up from $399.99)
- Xbox Series S (1TB) – $599.99 (up from $449.99)
- Xbox Series X (1TB, Digital) – $749.99 (up from $599.99)
- Xbox Series X (1TB, Disc) – $799.99 (up from $649.99)
We previously covered how the $1049 price of the Steam machine has us worried for the future of console gaming, with genuine fear that Xbox's Project Helix will come in at between $900 and $1,2000. If that's the case, those seemingly wild whispers of a PS6 costing over $1,000 suddenly don't sound so wild.
Xbox is clearly in a period of transition right now, and as well as its biggest restructure to date, there's also a free version of Xbox Game Pass that interrupts your gameplay with ads. It's no secret that Internal leaks previously suggested that Microsoft loses around $150 on every Xbox Series X and Series S console sold, but as the console wars continue to bubble back up again, this latest price hike could help the Green Team claw back some of its losses.