If you're still planning on buying an Xbox and haven't already, you might want to do so before August 1, as console prices are going up again.
Microsoft has announced yet another worldwide Xbox console price increase – the third increase in the Xbox console family since 2025 – this time bringing 512GB models up $100 and driving up the price of 1TB models by an eye-watering $150. Meanwhile, the most expensive Xbox, the disc-equipped 2TB Xbox Series X, is being discontinued. Xbox didn't share updated numbers for each model specifically, but if we're doing the math from the last price hike, that brings the following models starting August 1 to:
- Xbox Series X (disc) – $799.99
- Xbox Series X (digital) – $749.99
- Xbox Series S 1TB – $599.99
- Xbox Series S 512GB – $499.99
"We hoped another price increase would not be necessary, and we have spent the last several months working with suppliers on options. Unfortunately, console storage and memory prices have increased by more than 2.5x and we expect another doubling by the fall of 2027," says Team Xbox in the announcement, attributing the increase to "the current components crisis" that's impacting "the entire consumer electronics industry" and which is "particularly hard on consoles.
"Unlike phones, computers, speakers, and other consumer devices, consoles are typically not sold at a profit, but instead for less than they cost to make," Xbox says.
Of course, hardware price jumps in 2025 and 2026 aren't exclusive to Microsoft, with Nintendo increasing Switch 2 prices in May and a March PlayStation price hike bring the premium PS5 Pro all the way up to $900. Still, to put things in context in Xbox terms, the cheapest version of the lowest priced current-gen Xbox console, the 512GB Series S, now has a retail price of $500, which is exactly what the standard disc version of its big brother, the Series X, cost at launch back in 2020, almost six years ago. It's an expensive time to be a gamer, y'all.
If you're lucky enough to have an Xbox already, here are the best Xbox games you can play right now.
