Microsoft’s Xbox division announced it will increase the prices of its gaming consoles by up to $150 around the world, pointing to a deepening global components shortage that has caused storage and memory costs to skyrocket across the consumer electronics market.
Industry groups representing automakers, retailers, and electronics companies had already sounded the alarm earlier this month, warning that surging demand for memory chips could trigger steep price increases in U.S. consumer products and strain supply chains.
Starting August 1, Xbox console prices will climb by $100 for 512 GB models and $150 for 1 TB models. Microsoft has also announced it will discontinue its 2 TB model entirely.
“Unfortunately, console storage and memory prices have increased by more than 2.5 times and we expect another doubling by the fall of 2027,” Xbox stated, noting that the hardware supply chain crisis has been especially damaging to the gaming industry.
This is not the first time Xbox has raised its prices — the company did so twice during the previous year as it faced cost pressures tied to tariffs, stiff competition, and unpredictable consumer spending.
Competitor Sony also bumped up the price of its PlayStation 5 consoles effective this past April, coming on the heels of a price increase it made last August.
Apple, considered the most valuable consumer electronics company in the world, raised prices on its iPad and MacBook products this past Thursday. The tech giant said it could no longer protect customers from the rapidly rising costs of memory and storage chips, which have been pushed higher by the artificial intelligence industry’s expansion of data centers.
In addition to the price increases, Xbox is reportedly planning significant layoffs next month along with major cuts to its marketing and other departmental budgets, according to a report from Bloomberg News earlier this month.
