Xbox Reverses Plans for $80 Games, Refunds Outer Worlds 2 Pre-Orders

Xbox is backing down from its stance on $80 games, including The Outer Worlds 2, at least for now. Xbox has been giving fans pretty constant whiplash all generation long. The generation started by saying Halo Infinite would be a launch title for Xbox Series X|S, then just a few months later, they delayed it an entire year. After that, Xbox made it pretty clear that they weren’t planning to bring big games to PlayStation. They doubled down on this idea after they ported some older, smaller games on PlayStation, but have since announced Gears of War and Forza Horizon 5 on PS5. Xbox praised the performance of Hi-Fi Rush and then shut down the studio.

Just weeks ago, Xbox pulled the plug on Perfect Dark and shuttered its studio almost exactly one year after a grand unveiling of the game. This news came around the same time as Xbox confirming it was raising prices on its games to $80 this holiday season in addition to price increases on hardware. It was a move that upset a lot of people, even though Xbox’s first-party games are immediately available on Xbox Game Pass. The Outer Worlds 2 was the first title to be confirmed for this price hike, but fans were also frustrated because a physical copy of the game doesn’t even come with a disc, making the higher price feel even more outrageous.

Xbox Reverts Plans to Charge $80 for New Games

The move came after Nintendo began testing the waters by raising the price for Nintendo Switch 2 games like Mario Kart World. However, this was also extremely controversial and Xbox seems to be realizing it was the wrong direction to go. As reported by Windows Central, Xbox will be reversing plans to make its games $80 this holiday season. Players who pre-ordered The Outer Worlds 2 will be eligible for refunds starting today and tomorrow, depending on your retailer, and you can pre-order a new copy at $69.99.

“We’re focused on bringing players incredible worlds to explore, and will keep our full priced holiday releases, including The Outer Worlds 2, at $69.99 – in line with current market conditions,” an Xbox spokesperson told Windows Central.

This almost certainly means Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 will remain a $70 title as well. Of course, there’s a possibility this all changes next year. Not many other publishers have had the courage to announce $80 games outside of Xbox and Nintendo, so the fact others aren’t budging on this may indicate $70 may continue to be the standard at least for a time. Perhaps things will increase when the next console generation rolls around, but it seems like publishers have received a message from fans that they aren’t interested in this.