Xbox announces ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ scheme as console prices are raised AGAIN

2026 has been the year of price hikes, with PlayStation, Nintendo, Steam and Xbox all seeing their hardware prices go up in one form or another. Not to be outdone by Valve’s recent Steam Deck and Steam Machine announcements, Microsoft has confirmed that they are once again raising the price of the Xbox globally – the 3rd time in roughly 12 months.

Taking to their Xbox Wire blog to break the news, Microsoft confirmed that all SKUs of their Series consoles will be going up in price come the 1st of August, writing: “The price of XBOX consoles will increase by US$100 for 512 GB models and US$150 for 1 TB models. We will also be sunsetting our 2 TB model.”

Addressing the fact that they already raised prices previously, the letter continues: “Last October, we increased XBOX console price by $20-$70 in the U.S. 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.”

Asha Sharma had already spoken on Microsoft’s hardware situation recently, and so it doesn’t come as too big of a surprise. That said, considering the Series X launched back in 2020 for $499 and will soon be almost double that at $899, it begs the question as to just how much further things might go.

Seemingly in an effort to ease tensions a bit, Microsoft also announced that they will be introducing new ways to purchase a Series X/S – improving its Buy Now, Pay Later scheme while also trying to expand its interest-free financing.

Regardless, with the Series S soon to be priced at $559 for the 1TB model and the Series X going up to $899, you’ll be hard-pressed to find someone willing to buy a console right now.

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KitGuru says: What do you think of these price hikes? Are Xboxes even selling anymore? How long will it be before the AI bubble finally bursts? Let us know down below.

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