Thats why they raised prices in other parts of the world too.... to cover the costs of the american consumers, xbox's.
But guess what? Xbox isn't nearly as popular outside the US as it is in the inside there. This is gonna kill sales for xbox.

And now GTA VI get delayed to 2026 .. what did I tell you ?
Xbox momentum (if it can be called that) will collapse until then ..

There will be a small bump now from people buying the last of the consoles at the old price.

That's now considered a deal lol

https://www.eurogamer.net/where-to-buy-xbox-consoles-and-controllers-avoid-price-hike

Once that path is exhausted sales will crash double hard. But funny to see a price hike boosting sales :)

But those sales are competing with the Switch 2 launch now, a console people actually want.

With GTA VI delayed until next May 2026 (if they don't delay again until the holidays) MS launching new hardware holiday 2026 would be the time to do it. Raise existing prices now so unit sales continue to drop, potentially by a substantial amount, then announce new hardware (sometime earlier in 2026).

I wonder how low Xbox sales will be this year with no GTA and a price increase. This is a console that was already selling considerably less than the 8 year old Switch in Europe this year, a system getting replaced soon.

Xbox hardware is pretty much done. GTA6 is coming too late to save it, and MS doesn't seem to give a shit anyway.

The real concern now is PC killing traditional home consoles. PS5 will probably beat PS4's lifetime sales comfortably thanks to a very long lifecycle, but I don't see PS6 generating a lot of excitement unless Sony drops PC support and return to full exclusivity including 3rd party deals. A PS6 portable might soften the blow, but it won't be enough to stop PC's dominance and Playstation's decline.

Nintendo is immune to this as long as they keep their stuff exclusive.

It's a vicious cycle. Console games sell less > fewer exclusives > the console itself sells less > console games sell less... and so on.

Microsoft could turn the Xbox hardware fortunes overnight if they wanted, but the demand for Microsoft Gaming to make as much money as Azure or Office, short-term, will kill that idea on the crib.

And Sony should know much better, they have long operated in multiple mature electronic markets with small profit margins where brand loyalty and long-term thinking matters. Yet somehow, GOW and Horizon selling 20 million isn't enough for them.

Yeah with the price hike, GTA6 delayed, and their first party games coming to Playstation and soon also probably Switch 2, Xbox sales this year will be disastrous.

I would say next gen can't come soon enough for MS, but why even bother making a new console if it's still going to have no exclusive games and a brand that's become completely toxic.

Ok... ok... $600 and no GTA VI either. This year is going to be absolutely brutal.

The Xbox One sold 3.9m in 2020, the year it was replaced, when it had no holiday season sales boost due to the Series launch. Xbox Series will have the full year to itself and is doing worse than that this year.