It came, it was only a matter of time. In 2023, Microsoft will increase the price of its exclusive top games developed for Xbox Series X | S.. The Redmond-based company itself has confirmed the news, which will impact new Xbox Games Studios titles and will initially impact offerings such as Starfield, red waterfall and the next part of the saga Forza Motorsport.
As for the allowance itself, it will be $10. So the following top Xbox games will cost $69.99 at launch, instead of $59.99 as before. What will not change is that they will continue to be available from day one of the Xbox Game Pass subscription on both consoles, PC and mobile. Although it is not yet known if the company plans to adjust the price of its subscription as well.
It is not yet known how the price increase will affect outside the US. From Xbox they commented on this regional prices may varybut did not give details about it. “We have kept the price increase through the holidays so that families can enjoy the games as a gift. […] This price reflects the content, scale and technical complexity of these games,” the company said.
Xbox raises the price of its exclusive releases by $10
As stated at the beginning, a $10 increase in the price of exclusive releases for Xbox Series X | S it would happen sooner or later. Sony is already offering PS5 games for $70, while other publishers like Take-Two and Ubisoft have made similar decisions over the past year. And let’s not forget that Valve recently updated the recommended prices for games on Steam.
Adding to all this, Phil Spencer, head of Xbox and CEO of Microsoft Gaming, opened the umbrella at the end of October. By that time, he assured them that they could not keep prices at the same level forever. “We have kept the price of our console, we have kept the price of games and our subscription. I don’t think we can do this forever. I think at some point we will have to raise some prices for some things,” he warned at the time.
The statements were, of course, not accidental. In August, the people of Redmond decided not to raise the price of the Xbox Series X | S when Sony did it with the PlayStation 5. But they have already left the door open to reconsider if necessary. It remains to be seen whether the increase in Xbox exclusive games is the first measure given a similar increase in hardware.
Until then, we’ll wait for news. It is clear that not everyone likes the price increase, especially when Microsoft didn’t release exclusive AAA games in all of 2022. In addition, in the case Starfield the impact seems even stronger given the delays the game took to reach the public.
Source: Hiper Textual
