The world is going through a complicated economic landscape. This, of course, is affecting multiple industries. Among them is the technology industry, as several companies have been forced to raise the prices of their products due to inflation and constant changes in the value of currencies.
The promise of Microsoft
Even when Microsoft a couple of months back said that they will not increase the price of their Xbox Series X like Sony. There is straightforward evidence that for the actual economic crisis, Redmond had to follow the steps of his competition.
Alike, Phil Spencer said: “We have maintained our console pricing; we have maintained our game pricing… and our subscription. I do not think we can do that forever. I think at some point we are going to have to raise some prices on certain things…”
Particular country
Although now on Amazon you cannot see any rise in the price of the console. Already exists in a particular country where the price was increased. This makes people think that Microsoft is trying to launch an indirect to the rivals, considering that increasing the price now is not a correct movement.
More than that, Spencer confirmed that Xbox X|S Series are still selling at a loss and that Microsoft subsidizes between $100 and $200 USD for each console sold. Thus, a price increase is not completely ruled out.
As ResetEra said, the company has risen the price of the Xbox Series X in India: This is, in fact, the third price increase this year (+12% on the original RRP). Also, for Xbox accessories.
Microsoft is not interested in making any effort to increase its audience share. Considering that India is a small but emerging market.
In fact, the price of sell to the public are:
Xbox Series S – ₹35.990
Xbox Series X – ₹55.990
If we make the exchange rate to Euros, the S Series thus costs 445.27 euros, while the X Series is sold at the staggering price of 692.72 euros. Which is huge when compared to the cost in other countries of the world!
Therefore, we can conclude that right now, at present, owning an Xbox console is a luxury that only upper-middle-class families with a commensurate income can enjoy.
An Indian user claims that Microsoft’s move goes against nature in the territory, since little by little both the Redmond consoles and Xbox Game Pass were gaining some presence. However, after this increase, and considering that the price of PlayStation 5 is lower in the traditional model (39,990 rupees for the digital model and 49,990 rupees for a model with a reader) Microsoft’s growth will be really affected.
Moving on, the steady growth of Xbox Game Pass makes it highly likely that the cost of the subscription will in a brief time increase, especially considering the possible termination of the agreement with Activision Blizzard.
On the other hand, on a happier note, as of now, all Xbox Game Pass subscribers can start downloading the new free November game at no additional cost, which is cool!
I really hope, this article was interesting for you and also helps you to keep up with the news of the video game companies and the global economic crisis.