XBOX used to be known as the budget console for gamers, with the reasonably priced Xbox Series S and the great value that was offered with Game Pass.
However, there have been a number of price increases over the past few years which have made Xbox less affordable.
Most recently it announced a huge price increase across all tiers of Xbox Game Pass, alongside the removal of Xbox Game Pass for Console.
The service will be replaced by Xbox Game Pass Standard, which does not include the popular day-one releases of the Game Pass for Console tier.
While the price of everything is rising, gamers are finding it difficult to keep up with their hobby.
Compounding the issue of the Game Pass price hike, Microsoft recently announced that a price increase would also hit Xbox consoles.
The Xbox Series X will see an 11% price increase, while the 1TB Xbox Series S will see a 12% price increase.
Finally, the standard Xbox Series S will see an increase of 17%, and all of these are a large increase for what are already expensive products.
The change currently only affects Japan, though fans have noted that this is a strange move by Microsoft as Xbox sales in Japan have always been poor compared to other regions.
For comparison to other regions, the Xbox Series X now costs ¥67k in Japan, which is approximately £350 or $450.
The larger Series S is now ¥50k (roughly £265 or $350) and the regular Series S is ¥45k (£240 or $300).
Fans from all regions are worried about the Japanese price increase, as a price rise in one region usually signifies that prices will rise in other regions too.
However, in a statement to Famitsu, Microsoft claims that the price increase will only affect the Japanese region.
Microsoft claims that it “regularly evaluates the impact of changes in market conditions on local pricing”, stating that currently it is only considering a price rise in Japan.
However, Microsoft has made similar claims to this in the past before making price increases in various regions.
In January 2023, almost every region – except for North America – saw a price increase across Xbox’s consoles.
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