Xbox Series X/S First-Party Games Will Cost $70 Next Year

Microsoft has announced that it’s raising the price of first-party Xbox Series X/S games to $70 beginning in 2023. 

IGN first confirmed the news, with a Microsoft spokesperson telling the outlet that “This price reflects the content, scale, and technical complexity of these titles.” First-party Xbox Series X/S games such as Starfield, Redfall, and Forza Motorsport will be among the first titles to have the $70 price tag when they arrive next year. The price of Xbox Game Pass appears unaffected, and the Microsoft spokesperson continued by saying, “As with all games developed by our teams at Xbox, they will also be available with Game Pass the same day they launch.” 

Given the increasingly exorbitant cost of triple-A game development, the price rise was only a matter of time. In an October live interview with The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft head Phil Spencer said as much when he stated that the company couldn’t keep its products at the same price forever. “I do think at some point we’ll have to raise the prices on certain things, but going into this holiday we thought it was important to maintain the prices.” 

Sony was the first console maker to charge $70 for its PlayStation 5 first-party offerings at the start of this generation. In August, Sony raised the price of the PS5 itself in multiple international territories, citing inflation as the primary reason; Microsoft immediately responded by saying it had “no plans to raise the price of the Xbox Series X/S consoles.” Of course, that statement was made before Spencer’s comments to the WSJ, and Microsoft declined to comment when IGN asked about the potential of a hardware price raise.

As a reminder, the $70 tag only applies to current-gen titles. PS4 and Xbox One games have and will remain $60, the former standard established during the PS3/Xbox 360 generation. 

[Source: IGN]

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