Phil Spencer has reiterated that Microsoft has no plans to increase the price of the Xbox Series X or S following Sony recently raising the PlayStation 5’s price in some territories.
Speaking to CNBC’s Squawk Asia (below), the Xbox boss made clear that the Xbox Series X and S will remain at $499 and $299 respectively.
“We’re always evaluating our business going forward so I don’t think we can ever say on anything that we’ll never do something,” Spencer said. “But when we look at our consoles today, we think value’s incredibly important.
$MSFT‘s @XboxP3 talks #Tencent, #JRPG‘s, and @discord – and explains why it’s not time to follow $SONY‘s hike in prices. #Xbox #PlayStation pic.twitter.com/BCIY0wE8Gt
— Squawk Asia (@asiasquawkbox) September 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’re finding are coming in through Series S. I can definitely say we have no plans today to raise the price of our consoles.
“We think that in a time where our customers are more economically challenged and uncertain than ever, we don’t think it’s the right move for us at this point to be raising prices on our consoles.”
Spencer first clarified that this would be the case last month, when the eyes of the industry turned to Xbox following the PlayStation price hike.
Sony announced on August 25 that it would be raising the price of the PS5 in Europe, the UK, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Canada as a result of “high global inflation rates as well as adverse currency trends,” it said at the time.