Microsoft Hiking the Price of Xbox Series X and Xbox Game Pass (theverge.com) 13
Microsoft is increasing its Xbox Series X prices in most countries in August apart from the US, Japan, Chile, Brazil, and Colombia. From a report: The Xbox maker is also increasing the monthly prices of its Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscriptions for the first time next month, which will see the base Game Pass subscription for console move up to $10.99 a month from $9.99. "We've held on our prices for consoles for many years and have adjusted the prices to reflect the competitive conditions in each market," says Kari Perez, head of communications for Xbox, in a statement to The Verge. Xbox Series X console pricing will largely match the price hike Sony announced for the PS5 last year, with the Xbox Series X moving to $612 in the UK, $604 across most European markets, CAD $649.99 in Canada, and AUD $799.99 in Australia starting August 1st. The Xbox Series S pricing will not be adjusted in any markets, remaining at $299.99.
Too much money (Score:2)
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like seeing the Titanic?
Since they lost communications almost immediately, we don't know if they saw the Titanic before they died or not...
Signals (Score:5, Interesting)
I read two signals in here:
First, they are increasing console gamepass but not PC gamepass. If the reports are correct, PC is still growing (~50% year on year), while console subscriptions stayed stagnant. This is similar to what happened to Netflix, Disney+ and others. Not enough subs = extract more "value" from existing customer base.
Second, they are unable to reduce hardware costs. This far into the cycle, console manufacturers normally reduced prices. The same is true for Sony/PlayStation, so this is not an Xbox only thing.
Both of these indicate, the future is leaning towards the PC and open platforms. Given how smooth the Steam Deck launched, plus Linux and Mac OS are getting support for games now (via simple Wine based compatibility layers), the days of the dedicated console is shrinking.
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You're probably right on the first point. Once you go GamePass, it's hard to go back. If they raise the prices 25%, I'll probably keep my subscription.
The second part is kind of sort of maybe true. The official CPI (government) inflation calculator tells me that $500 now is worth $583 when the Series X came out (Nov. 2020). So they're kind of giving everyone a 15-20% discount already. Then there's currency fluctuations. $650 CAD is actually less than $500 USD. But we have to keep in mind that while m
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Re:Signals (Score:4, Interesting)
This far into the cycle, console manufacturers normally reduced prices.
You're reading too much into this. Manufacturers selling loss leaders do not reduce prices "this far into the cycle". They reduce prices to clear out old stock when announcing a new console or to keep sales moving when competitors make a generational jump. The only conclusion you can draw from this is that there won't be a new xbox or playstation in the next 12 months.
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The component costs used to come down.
Original Xbox One teardown, bill of materials cost: $470+ (sold for $500/$600)
https://www.engadget.com/2013-... [engadget.com].
First refresh, the One "S" version: $375 (sold for $400):
https://www.businesswire.com/n... [businesswire.com]
Second refresh, much more powerful "X" version (like PS4 Pro): ~$500 (sold at break even)
https://www.gamerevolution.com... [gamerevolution.com]
Yes, they had minimal profit, or probably some loss (due to marking, research, etc).
But they added more features and/or decreased cost as chips came d
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No component costs didn't come down. Those "refreshes" represented significant differences in internal design. The original components were still priced at the original agreement (which for a company like Microsoft includes purchasing of several years worth in one go).
This announcement is of a price change, not a "refresh".
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Hardly surprising, because modern consoles have adopted all the worst aspects of PCs while losing the advantages of consoles.
Why just pop in a physical cartridge or disc and play, when now you have to deal with constant updates and maintenance, install games before you can play them, be forever shackled to an Internet connection, and you never own a damn thing? Console manufacturers seem to have forgotten why they are called "consoles" to begin with.
I used the hell out of all my dozen+ consoles starting wi
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Valve may launch a console in the vein of the Deck and capture the market from Sony and Microsoft.
They might not catch Nintendo without some kid friendly software, but they have what it takes to overshadow the others.
Just offer the same console experience plug and play that the Steam Deck does, but more powerful on the TV.
We saw with the ROG Ally that just putting a regular PC in a console format does not provide a straightforward nontechnical operation.
The Steam Deck style software can do it. It makes inst
"Light Patterns" (Score:3)
So this article reminded me to take care of canceling my XBox Ultimate subscription. it's not that I don't think it's valuable - in fact, it's a great value. But my gaming on the console has been drifting to zero as my priorities evolved. I spent 30 hours this month learning to play the lead on Sultans of Swing, and exactly zero hours on video games.
My Account -> Services and Subscriptions -> Manage (Ultimate) -> Cancel -> Are you sure? Here are the tiers... -> (Yes, I'm sure) -> Refund now, or just stop renewal on July 20? -> (20th is fine) -> Bye for now.
Time elapsed, under a minute. Perfectly smooth. In this era of dark patterns, that's pretty sweet.
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"it's a great value."
Like any subscription it may or may not be a great value. As soon as your use drops to a few hours on a weekend once or twice a month, or if the service goes a month or two without you even logging in... it becomes a lot of money for basically nothing.
I hated the MMORPGs subscriptions back in the day because 10/mo then 15/mo was "incredible value" for someone playing 5 nights a week, every week.
But for me, playing 1 weekend maybe a month with friends. It just made no sense; I was basica