Xbox Series S Now Costs Almost As Much As A PS5 Did At Launch Following Huge UK Price Hike – WGB

Microsoft has now increased the price of every Xbox Series X|S console in the UK, and the numbers are frankly absurd.

The company announced its latest worldwide price hike back in June, confirming increases of $100 for 512GB consoles and $150 for 1TB models in the US. However, Microsoft did not provide regional pricing at the time, leaving us in the UK to wonder exactly how badly we were about to get shafted.

Well, we don’t have to wonder anymore. The new prices are now listed on the official Microsoft Store, and the answer is: quite badly indeed. Proper bent over a table levels of shafted.

Here’s the full UK breakdown:

• Xbox Series S 512GB: £299.99 to £429.99 — up £130
• Xbox Series S 1TB: £349.99 to £519.99 — up £170
• Xbox Series X Digital 1TB: £449.99 to £619.99 — up £170
• Xbox Series X 1TB: £499.99 to £669.99 — up £170

That means the cheapest Xbox console has increased by more than 43% in a single move. The 1TB Series S has jumped by nearly 49%, while both Series X models have risen by roughly a third or more.

However, those percentages only cover this latest increase. Compare the new prices with what Microsoft charged when the generation began in November 2020 and things become even sillier.

The Xbox Series S originally launched at £249.99, marketed as an affordable way to enter the new console generation. It now costs £429.99, representing a £180 increase of around 72%. That puts Microsoft’s little white box just £20 below the £449.99 launch price of the full-fat, disc-equipped PlayStation 5.

In other words, Microsoft’s budget console, which has less storage, no disc drive and significantly less graphical power than the Series X, now costs almost exactly what Sony’s flagship PS5 did when this generation began. The 1TB Series S costs £70 more than that launch PS5 did.

Meanwhile, the standard Xbox Series X has climbed from £449.99 at launch to £669.99 today. That’s another £220 on top of the original price for hardware which will turn six years old in November.

Microsoft blamed the increase on the ongoing component crisis, claiming that console storage and memory prices have risen by more than 2.5 times. The company also expects those costs to double again by autumn 2027. Its 2TB Series X is being discontinued as part of the same move.

There’s no doubt that memory prices are causing problems across the electronics industry, driven in part by enormous demand from AI companies. Microsoft is hardly alone in raising prices either, with Sony and Nintendo also making their machines more expensive during this generation.

But none of that makes these Xbox prices any easier to swallow. Consoles traditionally become cheaper as a generation continues, either through official cuts, slimmer models or regular bundles. Instead, the Xbox Series X|S family is becoming dramatically more expensive while still using hardware from 2020.

At £429.99, the Series S is no longer a cheap entry point. At £669.99, the Series X is edging towards premium PC territory. And when Microsoft’s solution includes encouraging people to use Buy Now, Pay Later schemes, perhaps that tells you everything you need to know about how far console pricing has gone off the rails.