Gamers will have to get their hands on the wallet. Thursday, May 1, Microsoft announced in a press release ” adjust “ The prices of its Xbox game consoles worldwide.
In fact, The cost of an Xbox S series thus goes from € 299.99 to € 349.99 While Xbox Xbox Xboxes are now sold at € 599.99 against € 549.99 before. The company will also enhance the price of its controllers from 60 to 64.99 € as well as that of the owner games of $ 10. These will therefore go from $ 69.99 to $ 79.99 for “End of year celebrations”indicates Microsoft.
Consoles prices that will crescendo
For excuse, the American company evokes “Market conditions and the increase in development costs”. Reasons that strongly resemble those advanced by its competitor Sony who had revised in Europe, the Middle East, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand The price of the PlayStation 5 (PS5) at € 500 From April 14 against € 450 before. In question? “A difficult economic context, with high inflation and fluctuating exchange rates”explains the company in a blog post.
-A few weeks earlier, it was the Japanese manufacturer Nintendo who announced the exorbitant price of its new Switch 2 console. It should be sold from June at a price of € 470, much more expensive than the first version of the console whose price was 330 €.
A difficult geopolitical context
If the companies concerned mainly evoke inflation as the cause of the increase in the prices of their consoles, another variable would probably come into account: American customs duties which would also impact the world of video game. For example, consoles in particular Xbox and PlayStation are manufactured in China, to whom Donald Trump imposed customs duties of 145 %, specifies theAFP.
Another hypothesis: the speed loss of the Xbox brand for whom sales collapsed, going from 550,000 copies in Europe in 2023 to 290,000 Xbox in 2024, indicates BFMTV.
