Xbox Made $21 Billion Last Year, But Needs You To Pay More For Games

Xbox games and consoles are now more expensive. To this end, Xbox Series X consoles are increasing in price by $100. Meanwhile, Xbox games are increasing in price to $80, a $10 increase. Xbox is even going to be charging more for things like controllers and headsets. The only thing not getting a price increase is Xbox Game Pass, but that is coming. Xbox hasn’t explained away the massive price increases, but others have come to its defense, citing inflation, tariffs, and the skyrocketing cost of video game development.

Of course, inflation and tariffs — and the economic uncertainty the latter has created — are important considerations. The rising costs of video game development is worth less consideration, because this is 100 percent the fault of studios and those writing their checks. Video game budgets have not ballooned out of control because of market demands or consumer expectations, they have ballooned out of control because of over-specialization and various other forms of unforced, irresponsible spending.

Xbox’s price increase follows a similar price increase from Nintendo, which is somehow charging $80 for a Mario Kart game in 2025 and charging The Legend of Zelda fans more money for Breath of the Wild than it did when it released the game in 2017. Nintendo has always set the bar high, though, when it comes to being anti-consumer, whereas Xbox and its boss Phil Spencer take pride in being consumer-friendly.

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Rather than absorb the cost of inflation, tariffs, and other costs, Xbox is passing along the cost to its consumers. This is an odd decision to begin with, because Xbox needs to expand the market if it wants to compete long term with PlayStation and Nintendo, not help shrink it by pricing more and more current and potential consumers out of the hobby.

All of that said, what makes everything happening in the industry right now egregious is Xbox and Nintendo are not increasing prices to make ends meet or even to make a humble sum of money. They are increasing prices not so they can make a profit, not so they can make millions, but so they can continue to make billions.

In the fiscal year 2024, Xbox generated more than $21 billion in revenue. Now, revenue is not profit, but the point remains: Xbox — like PlayStation and Nintendo — is not hurting for cash. These price increases are not the difference between sustainability and the lights being turned off.

While Xbox prints money, while it spends $75 billion on acquiring Activision, while it aggressively cuts into its profit attempting to corner the market with Xbox Game Pass, and while it does little to curtail bloat and overspending at its studios, it wants you to give it more money. And you shouldn’t.