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Forums - Gaming - XBox Series S/X Getting Another Price Increase (Tarrifs)

Pemalite on 24 September 2025
EricHiggin said:

Ironic that Trump had Foxconn lined up to build a bunch of large factories in the US, and that fell apart when the Dems got back into power. Not sure whether or not those plants would've or could've done console assembly, but it would've been a step towards making that a possibility in the future.

Foxconn has a presence in the USA... Wisconsin, Ohio, Texas (Houston, Fort Worth), Virginia, and Indiana just to name a few. (Though not all are manufacturing/assembly).

Foxconn also sold off it's EV factory in August this year... Under Trump.
Foxconn is a business and will plan it's operations based on operational requirements and market trends.

However... Even if Foxconn started to assemble consoles in the USA, Tariffs will continue to exist... Because all the little components? Is manufactured overseas and needs to be imported.

So Trump has screwed over the market either way.

EricHiggin said:

XB has made it very clear that they don't care much about hardware anymore and won't be subsidizing in the future. PS has shown they're still willing to keep hardware prices low. How much they've subsidized PS5, or lost on potential profits over the years isn't very clear, but for SNY, the hardware still matters enough to do what they can to get hardware into gamers hands. Right now PS5 sales are still close enough to PS4 that they have little reason to lower pricing. PS5 Pro sells far less than PS5 does, so it stands to reason its manufacturing costs are higher, so its price should also be higher. However, Pro is being marketed by SNY almost as an extra halo like type product in terms of it's pricing, so it's far higher than one might expect.

The messaging from Microsoft has been they are still interested in hardware and will keep developing and releasing hardware.

Sony and Nintendo have also abandoned "subsidies" on hardware hence their higher pricing as well.

EricHiggin said:

Not directly applicable, but a mass manufacturing pricing example: CATL, one of the largest battery manufacturer's in the world, just started producing sodium ion batteries. The cost is something like 20¢-25¢ per Wh right now because production is low since it's a brand new product. They've stated based on their history of production, which includes many other different battery types, that once sodium ion production levels match that of lithium, mass orders will cost around 10¢-12¢ per Wh. The cost will be half of what it is now. Similar to how Apple would always pay far more for new TSMC nodes early on, only for that process node to end up considerably cheaper as time goes on. Mass manufacturing can impact pricing by up to half.

Sodium Ion is a heavy battery.
Lithium Ion is lighter and more energy dense.

So for most consumer electronics, Lithium Ion is still the way to go for the future.

Energy storage (Think: Solar farms charging a battery farm) will likely continue to use Lithium Ion phosphate due to density and reliability, with a potential transition to Sodium Ion later on.

I have a pretty sound understanding on battery chemistries and their economics and hazards being a hazmat technician who responds to battery fires across the state.

And whilst you are correct that scales of economies are a thing, it's not the biggest price impact that is affecting the Xbox console... It's Tariffs, 50% and more kinda screws over everything and everyone.

You should thank the incompetent leader of the USA for this tax on the American people for the current higher pricing. It's his fault.







--::{PC Gaming Master Race}::--

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Random_Matt on 25 September 2025

MS raises prices while Sony is having a sale. That is kind of funny, I may finally pick one up before the sale ends on the 1st of October.



Shadow1980 on 28 September 2025
Soundwave said:

Tarrifs are going to add a 20-30% premium on most game consoles. Might as well get used to it if you live in the US. It's a tax and Americans will have no choice but to pay for it at least until for the next few years.

B-b-b-but those signs assured me this wouldn't happen!

Yet inflation is going up. The Xbox in specific has gone up 30% since the start of the year. It must be the fault of the Global Communist Conspiracy, I tells ya!

In all seriousness, though, what's the end game here? Does Dumbass Donnie think he can magically make manufacturing jobs come back? Does he think literally everything Americans buy can and should be made here (apparently exclusively; I'm also getting the impression he thinks the U.S. should be the world's manufacturing hub)? Does he think people are willing to pay substantially more if most of what we buy is made here? The man is an idiot who lives in a world full of delusions, so it wouldn't surprise me if he does.



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In accordance to the VGC forum rules, §8.5, I hereby exercise my right to demand to be left alone regarding the subject of the effects of the pandemic on video game sales (i.e., "COVID bump").

Random_Matt on 04 October 2025

Bloomberg- Xbox Lost More Than $300 Million In COD Sales Across Xbox & PC



JRPGfan on 04 October 2025
Random_Matt said:

Bloomberg- Xbox Lost More Than $300 Million In COD Sales Across Xbox & PC

I had to look up what that was about. So Google to the rescue.


https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-03/xbox-s-game-pass-hike-shows-cost-of-lost-call-of-duty-sales?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc1OTUyNzI0MywiZXhwIjoxNzYwMTMyMDQzLCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUM0lWRFNHUFFROVIwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJGRUIzODlCNUI2ODI0RTY0QjY5MENEODE1RTBDREZGRCJ9.D1EObQzg2KlvqBoXPyEm5Yn-DznTYaVWC3okI5aX3AU&leadSource=uverify%20wall

"Xbox gave up more than $300 million in sales of Call of Duty on console and PCs last year, according to one of the former employees, who asked not to be identified discussing internal estimates.

“Game Pass hasn’t delivered the explosive growth Microsoft anticipated post-Activision, and they’ve realized their infrastructure costs don’t align with their pricing model,” said Joost Van Dreunen, founder of the video-game analytics firm Aldora."


^ They didn't lose over $300m+.

They left it on the table, because of Game pass. 
Ei. this is a estimation cost, of people playing it for free, that would otherwise have bought it.
They lost out of earning more revenue, last year at the release of Call of Duty.

The article is about why, CoD is not in premium tier anymore, and why Ultimate tier of Game pass went up in price.

Also this is under a thread about the hardware prices of the consoles.
We already have a thread about Game game price increases, that I think would fit better than here.



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Chris Hu on 04 October 2025
EricHiggin said:
Chris Hu said:

Under normal conditions he might be correct but when it comes to prices in the US everything is affected by the massive illegal tariffs implemented by Trump no matter how mass-produced they are. All consumer goods have seen an increase in prices due to the tariffs.

Tariffs are going to add some cost, but nothing compared to the savings of mass manufacturing. This is part of the reason why PS5 can remain cheaper. They're still having parts mass manufactured for them due to strong sales, so the pricing for those PS5 parts remains very low.

Non mass manufacturing vs mass manufacturing, can cut the cost of parts for a product in half. Now MS shouldn't be facing quite a doubling in price due to far less parts being needed because of very poor sales, but it's going to be considerably more expensive than it was back when XB Series sales were decent.

The main way Sony is keeping manufacturing cost down is not by making more of them but by making constant revisions and using cheaper parts on newer consoles.  Downgrading also works with the decrease in the HDD size on the PS5 slim digital version being the latest example.  Other downgrades that saved them money is removing backwards compatibility on the PS3 and then turning the last version of the PS3 into a manual top loading disc drive instead of a slot drive.   



Chris Hu on 04 October 2025
JRPGfan said:
Random_Matt said:

Bloomberg- Xbox Lost More Than $300 Million In COD Sales Across Xbox & PC

I had to look up what that was about. So Google to the rescue.


https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-03/xbox-s-game-pass-hike-shows-cost-of-lost-call-of-duty-sales?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc1OTUyNzI0MywiZXhwIjoxNzYwMTMyMDQzLCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUM0lWRFNHUFFROVIwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJGRUIzODlCNUI2ODI0RTY0QjY5MENEODE1RTBDREZGRCJ9.D1EObQzg2KlvqBoXPyEm5Yn-DznTYaVWC3okI5aX3AU&leadSource=uverify%20wall

"Xbox gave up more than $300 million in sales of Call of Duty on console and PCs last year, according to one of the former employees, who asked not to be identified discussing internal estimates.

“Game Pass hasn’t delivered the explosive growth Microsoft anticipated post-Activision, and they’ve realized their infrastructure costs don’t align with their pricing model,” said Joost Van Dreunen, founder of the video-game analytics firm Aldora."


^ They didn't lose over $300m+.

They left it on the table, because of Game pass. 
Ei. this is a estimation cost, of people playing it for free, that would otherwise have bought it.
They lost out of earning more revenue, last year at the release of Call of Duty.

The article is about why, CoD is not in premium tier anymore, and why Ultimate tier of Game pass went up in price.

Also this is under a thread about the hardware prices of the consoles.
We already have a thread about Game game price increases, that I think would fit better than here.

Exactly, just because a certain game gets played a lot on Game Pass does not mean that most people that played it on Game Pass would have bought the game if it was not on Game Pass.



EricHiggin on 07 October 2025
Chris Hu said:
EricHiggin said:

Tariffs are going to add some cost, but nothing compared to the savings of mass manufacturing. This is part of the reason why PS5 can remain cheaper. They're still having parts mass manufactured for them due to strong sales, so the pricing for those PS5 parts remains very low.

Non mass manufacturing vs mass manufacturing, can cut the cost of parts for a product in half. Now MS shouldn't be facing quite a doubling in price due to far less parts being needed because of very poor sales, but it's going to be considerably more expensive than it was back when XB Series sales were decent.

The main way Sony is keeping manufacturing cost down is not by making more of them but by making constant revisions and using cheaper parts on newer consoles.  Downgrading also works with the decrease in the HDD size on the PS5 slim digital version being the latest example.  Other downgrades that saved them money is removing backwards compatibility on the PS3 and then turning the last version of the PS3 into a manual top loading disc drive instead of a slot drive.   

Why doesn't MS do that with XB Series?



PS1   - ! - We must build a console that can alert our enemies.

PS2  - @- We must build a console that offers online living room gaming.

PS3   - #- We must build a console that’s powerful, social, costs and does everything.

PS4   - $- We must build a console that’s affordable, charges for services, and pumps out exclusives.

PRO  -%-We must build a console that's VR ready, checkerboard upscales, and sells but a fraction of the money printer.

PS5   - ^ -We must build a console that’s a generational cross product, with RT lighting, and price hiking.

PRO  -&- We must build a console that Super Res upscales and continues the cost increases.

Chris Hu on 07 October 2025
EricHiggin said:
Chris Hu said:

The main way Sony is keeping manufacturing cost down is not by making more of them but by making constant revisions and using cheaper parts on newer consoles.  Downgrading also works with the decrease in the HDD size on the PS5 slim digital version being the latest example.  Other downgrades that saved them money is removing backwards compatibility on the PS3 and then turning the last version of the PS3 into a manual top loading disc drive instead of a slot drive.   

Why doesn't MS do that with XB Series?

Because they have the Series S.  The original X Box got at least one revision where they decreased the size of the HDD.  The 360 had a ton of revisions some of them where due to the RROD fiasco and the X1 had at least a couple revisions.  Playstation always has more revisions than consoles made by their competitors even though the PS Vita wasn't selling well even it got a revision not to mention they tried to extent its life with the Playstation TV but that failed even harder than the Vita itself.



Blood_Tears on 07 October 2025
Chris Hu said:
EricHiggin said:

Tariffs are going to add some cost, but nothing compared to the savings of mass manufacturing. This is part of the reason why PS5 can remain cheaper. They're still having parts mass manufactured for them due to strong sales, so the pricing for those PS5 parts remains very low.

Non mass manufacturing vs mass manufacturing, can cut the cost of parts for a product in half. Now MS shouldn't be facing quite a doubling in price due to far less parts being needed because of very poor sales, but it's going to be considerably more expensive than it was back when XB Series sales were decent.

The main way Sony is keeping manufacturing cost down is not by making more of them but by making constant revisions and using cheaper parts on newer consoles.  Downgrading also works with the decrease in the HDD size on the PS5 slim digital version being the latest example.  Other downgrades that saved them money is removing backwards compatibility on the PS3 and then turning the last version of the PS3 into a manual top loading disc drive instead of a slot drive.   

Not all b/c just PS2 in the early days. All PS3 models still have PS1 b/c.