Thanks to the latest batch of price increases, the over half-a-decade-old Xbox Series S is now more expensive than the Nintendo Switch 2.
While we were warned about it in advance back in June, the latest in the ever-increasing number of hardware price hikes arrived alongside the arrival of August, as Microsoft's sweeping Xbox price bumps hit the market. While there's nothing quite as extreme as Sony's latest bump for the PS5 console, which has seen the PS5 Pro go for nearly $1,000, the Xbox increase has seen the models increase from $100-$150 depending on how much memory is included.
While the US knew what it was getting into since June, Microsoft kept the price increase for its consoles in Europe and the UK close to its chest. But now August is here, we know it's still going to be real expensive.
This latest hike from Microsoft has made the Xbox Series X start at $749.99 / £619.99 / €749.99 for the all-digital version, while the Xbox Series S will be $599.99 / £519.99 / €599.99 or $499.99 / £429.99 / €499.99 depending on whether you want the 1TB or 512GB edition of the console. For comparison's sake, Nintendo's new console will run you $449.99 / £395.99 / €469.99, making it cheaper than the 512GB edition of the Series S.
However, that won't last too much longer, as Nintendo itself is also implementing a price increase for Switch 2 consoles in a month's time. Prices of the Nintendo Switch 2 console will be bumped up by $50 to $499.99 (as of right now, the UK and Europe pricing changes are unconfirmed).
Thanks to the ongoing global ram shortages that are plaguing all aspects of the tech world at the moment – all in the service of being funnelled AI slop farms so someone can generate Homer Simpson singing Benson Boone for a TikTok – this generation has been the antithesis of the usual wisdom of not buying a console at launch.
