Microsoft has announced another worldwide price hike for the Xbox Series X/S, as it discontinues the 2TB model entirely.
Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft have all raised the price of their respective consoles over the past year, due to the ongoing memory shortage crisis, but it seems the price hikes aren’t stopping anytime soon.
Microsoft has announced another increase for the Xbox Series X/S, citing the ‘current component costs crisis’ as the reason.
From August 1, 2026, the 512GB model of the Xbox Series X/S will increase by $100, while the price for the 1TB consoles will go up by $150. In the US, this means the 512GB and 1TB Xbox Series S will cost $499.99 and $599.99, respectively; the digital Xbox Series X will cost $749.99; while the standard Xbox Series X with a disc drive will set you back $799.99.
UK prices are yet to be confirmed (a very annoying trend recently), but Microsoft has said these increases will be rolled out worldwide. GameCentral has reached out to Microsoft for comment.
In the UK currently, the digital Xbox Series X costs £449.99, while the disc-based console is £499.99. The 512GB Xbox Series S is priced at £299.99 and the 1TB model is £349.99. Based on the US increases then, it’s likely both Xbox Series X models will shoot up by roughly £100 in the UK, while the Xbox Series S could set you back over £400.
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As part of the announcement, Microsoft confirmed it is also ‘sunsetting’ the 2TB model of the Xbox Series X, presumably because it’s simply too costly to make.
To try and lessen the blow of these increases, Microsoft is introducing a ‘buy now, pay later’ scheme on Xbox hardware through Microsoft stores. Considering barely anyone was buying them to begin with though, that’s unlikely to have much impact.
If you were hoping this would be the last price increase for the current console generation, Microsoft has already warned it will likely happen again next year. ‘We hoped another price increase would not be necessary, and we have spent the last several months working with suppliers on options,’ the blog post reads.
‘Unfortunately, console storage and memory prices have increased by more than 2.5x and we expect another doubling by the fall of 2027.’
The big problem for Microsoft (and Sony with the PlayStation 6) is how much these sky high memory prices will impact its next console, Project Helix, which is expected to launch next year. If it releases a new console at a similarly unappealing price, when it’s already barely holding on in terms of hardware sales, it’s going to be a disaster.
This increase comes after Microsoft cut the price for Xbox Game Pass, after it jacked up the subscription service’s price by 50% last year and lost millions of subscribers. The last console price hike was in October but only in the US, which came after a worldwide increase in May last year.
It’s notable that this increase comes into effect ahead of GTA 6’s launch on November 19. Rockstar’s sequel is expected to give the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X a major sales surge, although even fewer are likely to buy a new Xbox, rather than a PlayStation 5, given these price increase.
With reports suggesting that the component crisis could impact hardware availability around the game’s launch, anyone looking to pick up a console for Christmas is perhaps better off doing so sooner rather than later. Especially as the component crisis is predicted to last for at least five more years.
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