Xbox Series X price rises by £170 as Microsoft blames soaring memory costs

Microsoft has increased the price of its Xbox consoles worldwide, with the top-end Xbox Series X now costing £170 more in the UK due to rising memory and storage component costs.

The Xbox Series X console with a disc drive has increased from £500 to £670, while the standard Xbox Series S has risen from £300 to £430, representing an increase of around 43%.

Microsoft said the price changes were caused by higher costs for hardware components, particularly memory and storage chips needed for modern gaming devices.

The company had previously said it hoped another price increase would not be necessary, but said rising manufacturing costs had made the changes unavoidable.

The price increases are not limited to the UK. Xbox consoles have also become more expensive in the United States and European markets, with some models seeing increases of more than $100 or €200 depending on storage capacity.

The move follows similar price rises across the gaming industry. Sony increased the price of the PlayStation 5 earlier this year, while Valve’s new Steam Machine hardware also launched at a higher-than-expected price.

One major factor behind rising component costs is growing demand from the artificial intelligence industry. Memory chips, including RAM, have become more expensive as technology companies require increasing amounts of computing power for AI development.

Graphics cards, another important component for gaming hardware, have also seen price pressure due to demand from AI companies using them for content generation and advanced computing tasks.

However, some gamers have criticised Microsoft’s decision, arguing that the Xbox Series X and Series S consoles have already been available for several years and should be becoming cheaper rather than more expensive.

The increases come at a difficult time for Xbox. Microsoft recently announced major restructuring across its gaming division, including thousands of job cuts, while the company has faced challenges with hardware sales and competition from Sony and PC gaming.

Industry analysts have warned that continued increases in console prices could push more players towards alternative options, including cloud gaming services and game streaming.

With component costs continuing to rise, gamers are now questioning whether this latest Xbox price increase will be the final adjustment or whether further price rises could follow.