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Not content with rapid and sizable console and Game Pass price hikes, Microsoft is now reportedly raising Xbox prices for developers as well. Xbox dev kits, the custom hardware provided to developers who want to make games for the platform, are said to be jumping from $1,500 to $2,000.
That's according to a new report from The Verge, citing an internal announcement sent to Xbox developers. This price increase will evidently take effect immediately in the US, EU, and beyond. I've reached out to Microsoft to confirm the price increase but have not heard back at the time of writing.
"The adjustment reflects macroeconomic developments," Microsoft reportedly said in its announcement. "We remain committed to providing high-quality tools and support for your development efforts."
This reported $500 (33%) dev kit price hike follows a wave of consumer price increases across the Xbox ecosystem. A 2TB Xbox Series X is now the most expensive console on the market following two price hikes that pushed it up to an eye-watering $800. Meanwhile, a standard Xbox Series X console is now $650, up from $600 following a prior jump from the launch price of $500.
Price hikes have also come for Xbox's favorite child, Game Pass, with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate jumping 50% to $30 a month just weeks ago. Ultimate is the subscription tier with access to major day-one Xbox releases like, in the near future, The Outer Worlds 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, so this price hike represents a hefty premium for the headlining feature of the service.
For months now, Microsoft has actively made Xbox less affordable, in the shadow of heavy layoffs and studio closures after and amid its Activision acquisition, while also presenting more and more alternatives to playing games on an Xbox. The backdrop, of course, is tens of billions in profit for the whole company. Squeezing the pool of creatives willing to develop for the platform – a shrinking pool as even the head of Moon Studios, creator of longtime Xbox indie mascot Ori, suggests Xbox ain't worth the effort – would just be par for the course at this point.
