Unless you’re in the United States, Japan, Chile, Brazil, or Colombia, you might want to buy an Xbox Series X by the end of July. Microsoft confirmed to Engadget that the console’s price will rise in the majority of other nations.
The Xbox Series X will cost $650 CAD in Canada, £480 GB, €550 most of the time in Europe, and $800 AUD in Australia starting on August 1st. The price increases are roughly in line with what Sony did to the PS5 last year in most markets.
According to Xbox communications chief Kari Perez, “We’ve held on to our prices for many years and have adjusted the prices to reflect the competitive conditions in each market.” These price adjustments for Game Pass are meant to match the conditions of the local market and have nothing to do with the Activision Blizzard deal.
The Xbox Series S will continue to cost $250 (or the local equivalent) in all markets. For $349, Microsoft will soon offer a black model with 1TB of storage.
Xbox One games are no longer produced by Microsoft’s own studios. You can still use Game Pass Ultimate to stream upcoming games like Starfield and Fable to the older console if you don’t want to buy a Series X or S. But you know what? The cost of that service is also going up, even in the United States.
The cost of Xbox Game Pass will soon rise by $1 to $11 per month. The price of Game Pass Ultimate will go up even more, going from $15 per month to $17. The price hikes for other markets are listed in The Verge. While the cost of Xbox Game Pass will not increase in Norway, Chile, Denmark, Switzerland, or Saudi Arabia, the cost of PC Game Pass, which doubled from $5 to $10 per month in 2020, will not change.
On July 6, the new prices for Xbox Game Pass will go into effect. Existing subscribers will not be affected until August 13 (September 13 in Germany). The price changes won’t affect you until it’s time to renew if you have access to Game Pass through an annual code.
Since Microsoft launched Game Pass in 2017 as part of a move away from Xbox Live Gold, this is the company’s first price increase. However, the prices would undoubtedly rise at some point. The decision was undoubtedly influenced by Game Pass’s significance to Xbox’s business model.
On the other hand, you might have anticipated that the Xbox Series X’s price would decrease rather than rise at this stage in its lifespan. Since Xbox head Phil Spencer recently stated that the company had increased the supply of Xbox Series X/S, Microsoft suggests that the Series X increase is the result of market conditions such as inflation and currency fluctuations. As a result, Microsoft cannot attribute the problem to a shortage of consoles.
Xbox One owners who still have the older console can still use cloud gaming to access Series X/S games. Microsoft no longer develops new games for the Xbox One.
Microsoft has stated that it will no longer produce games for the Xbox One, nearly three years into the lifecycle of the Xbox Series X/S. Despite the fact that the company will continue to provide support for games from the previous generation, such as Halo Infinite and Minecraft, no Xbox Game Studios teams are currently developing new games for the older console. In reference to the Xbox Series X/S consoles, Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty stated to Axios, “We’ve moved on to gen 9.” Additionally, the company produces PC games.
This change had to be made at some point to prevent older, more complex games from being hampered by the Xbox One’s hardware limitations. Still, Series X/S games like Starfield and Forza Motorsport will be available for Xbox One owners to play through Xbox Cloud Gaming. Booty stated, “That’s how we’re going to keep support.”
The announcement follows Xbox’s strong performance at its major annual showcase this past weekend. It revealed brand-new games like South of Midnight from Compulsion and Clockwork Revolution from InXile, as well as brand-new looks at Fable, Avowed, and Senua’s Saga: Second Hellblade
Microsoft’s teams will be freed from the shackles of the previous generation when they move away from Xbox One. However, a number of third-party developers have expressed concern that the Xbox Series S, which is less powerful than the Series X, is also preventing them from achieving their goals.
Booty acknowledged that “more work” is needed to ensure that games run smoothly on the Series S. Still, he said that Microsoft’s studios, especially those working on sequels for this generation of consoles, can now better optimize their projects for the Series S. The Xbox Elite Series 2 controller and the Xbox wireless headset are both currently on sale for $35.
Now might be an excellent time to look for a quality controller without breaking the bank. The black Xbox Elite Series 2 Controller from Microsoft is now $145, down 19% from its original price of $180. Even though it isn’t the lowest we’ve seen, it is still a respectable amount cheaper than its retail price.
Due to its compatibility with Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Windows 10 or 11 devices via Xbox Wireless or Bluetooth, the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 is an excellent option for Xbox gamers of any system. Additionally, you can connect it using the USB-C cord that comes with it. Through the Xbox Accessories app, you can swap D-pads and paddles, save up to three distinct controller profiles, and investigate button mapping options. It also has a battery life of up to 40 hours.
The Xbox Wireless Headset from Microsoft is also on sale for 15% off, going from $100 to $85! Auto-mute, voice isolation, and a battery life of up to 15 hours are among the additional features of the headphones, which are compatible with the same systems as the Xbox wireless controller, such as the Xbox Series X|S. Volume dials are located on the left earcup of the headphones, which feature sound technologies such as Windows Sonic and Dolby Atmos.
Even though the wireless headset costs about $40 more than the wired one, the discount definitely helps if you value freedom of movement. The sale brings the wireless headset and controller’s total price down to $230, saving you $50 if you want to update all of your summer accessories.
On September 1st, the Xbox Series S with 1TB of storage will be available for $349. Pre-orders will open later today.
Xbox Game Studios President Phil Spencer reported another Xbox Series S release today at Summer Game Fest. In a sleek “carbon black” color scheme, the new console variant will offer 1TB of storage—double the previous capacity. The launch on September 1st, as stated by the company, is “just in time for Starfield,” the eagerly anticipated game that comes out on September 6th.
In a blog post, Xbox Senior Marketing Manager Bree Adams stated, “Whether you’re looking to upgrade from your current console or are new to Xbox, the Xbox Series S — 1TB offers you another option within the Xbox family of devices.” Additionally, it claims that the carbon black color is “the same sleek, modern matte finish” as the Xbox Wireless Controller and Series X. You can download even more of your favorite games to your console, where they will be ready to play whenever you are, thanks to this console’s double the storage and next-generation speed as our 512GB Series S.
The first Xbox Series X/S storage cards from Western Digital start at $80. The WD Black C50 is less expensive than the Seagate alternative.
If you wanted to increase your Xbox Series X or S’s fast internal storage, you had to buy a Seagate card up until now. Now, you have a slightly cheaper option. A 500GB model of the Western Digital WD Black C50 expansion card is available for $80. That’s cheaper by $10 than the Seagate model that was recently reduced in price, and it’s easier to justify if you only need room for a few more games. The comparable-sized rival costs the same $150 as a 1TB card.
If you want more space for ready-to-play Xbox Series X/S games that require solid-state drive cards that are as quick as the SSD that is built into the console, you will need one of these exclusive add-ons. Traditional external USB drives can only be used to play Xbox One games or archive games. That’s fine if you only have a few games playing at once; however, if you need quick access to many games, you’ll need an Xbox-specific card.
Even so, these cards cost more than NVMe SSDs for a PlayStation 5. But the price difference is now so small that the storage format probably won’t affect which system you choose. It’s only a problem if you need 2TB more space. A 2TB C50 card is not available from Western Digital, and Seagate’s Xbox model, which costs $280, is significantly more expensive than PS5 models like Sabrent’s $160 NVMe drive.