Phil Spencer reiterates that Xbox is not planning a price increase
Phil Spencer has reiterated that Microsoft has no plans to increase the price of the Xbox Series X or S after Sony recently increased the price of the PlayStation 5 in some territories.
Speaking to CNBC’s Squawk Asia (below), the Xbox boss made it clear that the Xbox Series X and S will remain at $499 and $299, respectively.
“We’re always evaluating our business in the future, so I don’t think we can ever say we’re never going to do anything,” Spencer said. “But when we look at our consoles today, we think value is incredibly important.
$MSFT‘s @XboxP3 conversations #Tencent, #JRPG‘s, and @Discord – and explains why it’s not time to follow $SONY‘s price increase. #Xbox #playstation pic.twitter.com/BCIY0wE8Gt
— Squawk Asia (@asiasquawkbox) 09/16/2022
“We love the position of the Series S in the market, which is our lower-cost console; over half of our new players that we find come from the Series S. I can definitely say that today we have no plans to increase the price of our consoles.
“We feel that at a time when our customers are more economically challenged and uncertain than ever, increasing the prices of our consoles is not the right move for us.”
Spencer first made it clear that this would be the case last month, when industry eyes turned to Xbox following the PlayStation price hike.
Sony announced on August 25th that it would increase the price of the PS5 in Europe, UK, Middle East, Africa, Asia, Latin America and Canada due to “high global inflation rates as well as unfavorable currency trends”. “It was said at the time.