Microsoft Hikes Xbox Console Prices By Up To $100, Games To Hit $80 (videogameschronicle.com) 52
Microsoft is raising prices for Xbox consoles globally, with the flagship Series X jumping $100 to $599.99 in the US. The more affordable Series S will increase by $80 to $379.99, while game prices will reach $80 later this year.
The company cited "market conditions and the rising cost of development" in a statement, adding that it continues to focus on "offering more ways to play more games across any screen and ensuring value for Xbox players."
The company cited "market conditions and the rising cost of development" in a statement, adding that it continues to focus on "offering more ways to play more games across any screen and ensuring value for Xbox players."
Are we winning yet? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Are we winning yet? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1)
Two birds, one stone!
Re: (Score:3)
If bezos can manipulate Trump that easily try to think about what a guy like Vladimir Putin who was the kgb's Chief information warfare specialist can do.
It's fucked up but a whole hell of a lot of American intelligence agents and soldiers are going to die in the next 4 years for absolutely no fucking good rea
Re: (Score:2)
This will be a continuation of the last time where agents were dying en masse because Trump passed on information to Putin. After all, for what purpose would someone want a list of their country's top spies [thedailybeast.com]? This is the reason the CIA had to exfiltrate a highly placed source [lawandcrime.com] from within the Kremlin because they feared they had been compromised. Not to mention, the CIA had an unu
Re: (Score:2)
Amazon was chicken-shit about posting the tariff prices. If Amazon did that, it would have ended this madness instantly.
That was only a rumor for their Temu competitor app Haul, it was never proposed for the main site. For Amazon.com they would only be able to do it for items shipped/sold by Amazon, and even then they are most likely getting shipments from distributors and not directly importing the products (exception being their own house brands) so they wouldn't have full visibility to the tariffs. For third party sellers the seller would need to self report, and that might give Amazon to much info on the seller's costs a
Re:Are we winning yet? (Score:4, Funny)
Sure are. I'm living high on the hog, able to afford two dolls!
Re: (Score:2)
For everybody that doesn't get the joke one of Trump's economic advisors, I forget which one they're all so stupid and incompetent and evil, said that it was okay that we would have empty shelves because we would just buy fewer dollies for our little girls.
Never mind that there's more shit on the shelves than little dollies.
Re: (Score:3)
Sure are. I'm living high on the hog, able to afford two dolls!
That's a lot of doll hairs.
Re: (Score:3)
You know exactly what I mean.
Maybe you only need two XBoxes instead of thirty?
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Are we winning yet? (Score:5, Insightful)
This is Biden inflation caused by the Biden import taxes, no doubt due to Democrats' love of taxes. Good Comrade Trump had to clean that up by replacing the business-hostile Biden import taxes with business-friendly tariffs, and the tariffs are at a much higher rate, showing they're much more serious and important. Nobody has micromanaged an economy as well as Good Comrade Trump, and furthermore, Trump's Central Committee recently approved people purchasing two video game consoles, which is plenty. You don't need thirty of them like some running dog capitalists do.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
yeah i feel the same reading the Onion
Re: (Score:2)
It's funny yet quite depressing that Trump more than any president in our lifetimes, or history is acting like all the communists the red-scare folks of the 50's were afraid of, he's basically thinking he can do central planning and autarky, we have our own version of Lysenko in RFK and top it off with nothing but mewling yes-man afraid to deliver their leader any bad news (if anyone has watched The Death of Stalin [imdb.com] it's very similar) and who constantly have to fellate dear leaders ego. I mean our press s
Re: (Score:2)
Moderators, get real. This post isn't even close to Poe's Law ambiguity.
Re: Are we winning yet? (Score:3)
Any down mods are coming from Trump supporters, not his opponents. They are all snowflakes who cannot handle some satire.
Re: (Score:2)
I thought the "Insightful" moderators were obsequious Trump-supporters unable to see the satire, but you may have a point.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
who knew one blowjob would cost this much
Re: Are we winning yet? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
If we're being real here, even if the US had pushed an anti-China policy following the collapse of the Soviet Union (which would have been a good plan, actually), there still would have been a push for industrialization in other countries with cheap labor. Just not in China. We were already importing lots of textiles from countrie that were not China prior to the Clinton administration.
Re: (Score:2)
You know exactly what I mean.
I don't think the average MAGA voter is overly concerned that the cost of a nearly 4-1/2 year old gaming console has gone up in price. In fact, this kind of stuff usually elicits a "Fuck you, I got mine" response among conservatives who bought before the price increase.
Eggs and gasoline, though? That's something that regularly keeps hitting you in the pocketbook. And the rest of the crap at Walmart and on Amazon that lasts a day over the return period and then you've gotta buy another one? Yeah, they're
Re: (Score:2)
Good thing gasoline prices have been pretty flat lately.
Tariffs are an excuse (Score:3)
This is pretty much solely defined by the Switch 2 announcing a higher price and realizing that they can up the price gap a bit. Sony hasn't announced their price increase for the US as far as I can tell, but they've started elsewhere.
Re: (Score:3)
The short story is that tariffs are inflationary. Products affected by tariffs go up in price, and products not affected go up also, because market.
Re:Tariffs are an excuse (Score:4, Insightful)
Except they aren't raising the costs just in the US and neither is Sony. I'm sure this would have happened without the tariffs with slightly different timing.
Re: (Score:2)
Ah yes, you're right. From TFA:
Microsoft is raising prices for Xbox consoles globally
Sorry. My point still stands on tariffs though.
Re:Tariffs are an excuse (Score:4, Informative)
They're raising costs in all markets, but the difference in price varies significantly between markets:
While prices for Xbox consoles and accessories are increasing all around the world, the difference is far greater in the U.S. For instance, in the UK the Xbox Series X is increasing from £480 to £500, only a four percent rise compared to 20 percent. (The Series S is changing significantly more, going up 20 percent from £25o to £300, but that’s still a smaller change than in the United States.)
src: https://kotaku.com/microsoft-x... [kotaku.com]
Re: (Score:3)
Seems like a false dichotomy to me. I find it likely that some of the adjustment may be due to plain old increases in cost on their side - the consoles have been out for quite some time, but the US increase has the cost of the tariffs factored in which is why it's proportionally higher? But indeed maybe it was easier for them to swallow making those non-US market adjustments thanks to the forced hand of the tariffs?
It's easy to speculate, but certainly the difference in proportional price increase points to
Re: (Score:2)
To be fair, I've seen some analysts pointing out that some of the increase in other markets may well be to soften the price spike for US consumers given that it's XBox's biggest market.
Re: (Score:2)
Tariffs are net deflationary:
https://www.econlib.org/can-ta... [econlib.org]
Re: (Score:3)
https://www.nintendo.com/us/wh... [nintendo.com]
Raising prices on existing hardware is pretty rare in tech. Moore's outlaw?
Games, ok, that's a labor-driven thing. Nobody thinks the cost of the dvd media or download bandwidth are driving the price.
Re: (Score:2)
Nintendo raised the price of Switch games from $60 to $80. And now the rest of the industry is doing the same.
Also, Nintendo shamelessly admits they will sell a "japanese-only" version of the switch for $100 less in Japan. IOW, they will charge the rest of the world $100 more
Unfortunately, nintendo can do whatever the fuck they want because nintendo users are just like apple users. They will complain but still buy whatever nintendo is selling.
Re: (Score:2)
By this point, the hardware in the Xbox Series X is pretty old. Given the general depreciation in value for consumer electronics, the market value for such a console should have vastly decreased by now.
Re: (Score:2)
They're following Sony, who is in Japan. The value of the Yen vs. the Euro has plummeted in the last few years due to inflation. Even if the market value goes down, it may not be keeping pace with inflation. Ignoring exchange rates and Sony, a $499.99 price in 2020 is equal to a bit under $620 in 2025 dollars. So raising it to $599.99 is a bit below inflation.
They timed it right around the time of the Switch 2 price announcement because they didn't want to be compared to original Switch pricing.
Re: (Score:2)
I should have said that I mentioned Euros because Sony hasn't announced their US price increase yet so I only have Europe to go by.
Welcome to inflation, children. (Score:2)
So now people are learning what inflation actually is... all the other stuff didn't get their attention but when their toys go up... then they notice. sad.
It's more complex, but since inflation isn't understood, why bother trying to explain actual capitalism and it's flaws? This is like trying to explain fire makes light to somebody who didn't realize the room got brighter and then expecting them to grasp how the fire could burn out of control and ruin everything...
Older games are more fun (Score:3)
There is a vast back catalog of games that are far more innovative and fun then 90% of the rehashed AAA games we seem to always get.
And they are cheaper and most run great on modern hardware (with a few exceptions, Dungeon Keeper 2 I am looking at you).
Re: (Score:3)
There is no Dungeon Keeper 3. Never happened. La la la la la la la la la.....
Get to the tariffs! (Score:2)
Get to the tariffs!
That's what you get for not buying a real computer (Score:1)
See subject.
No 2TB model available (Score:2)
I was seeking a 2TB model because COD takes up so much space it doesn't leave much space for other games. Maybe I'll just wait for the next edition in a few years.
There's always Steam (Score:2)
Just saying, Steam anyone?
You know the best part of all this? (Score:2)
Companies are free to raise prices artificially on practically anything. Just pretend the tariffs leave you no choice and everyone blames Trump for your own corporate greed!
I mean, look... I fully expected the $200 or so price hikes on Bambu Labs 3D printers. They're fully assembled and sold directly out of China. That's a clear cut case of tariffs causing a price increase. A sudden need to raise prices of game software? It's intellectual property! Next, you'll tell me streaming music subscription prices ha
First world problem detected. (Score:2)
If a toy is too expensive I kill time differently (including usefully because money that saves or makes is freed for other things I want).
Slashdotters being a techie audience finding engaging things to do shouldn't be a high bar.