This past Friday afternoon, Microsoft quietly announced that it would be raising the price for its Xbox Series X/S consoles in the United States, with the Series X getting a $50 increase, the 2TB Series X getting a $70 increase, and the Series S getting a $20 increase starting October 3. It’s the second price jump for the Xbox console line this year, meaning that when we finally get to Oct.3, in the US alone, the Series S will have gone up $100, the Series X $150, and the 2TB Series X variant will have jumped up $200 in price.
Many have been quick to point to the current US administration’s new tariffs as the real reason behind these price jumps, or as Microsoft puts it, “changes in the macroeconomic environment.” According to former Blizzard president Mike Ybarra, however, that’s only part of the story.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Ybarra plainly states, “Console price increases are not tariff issues, they are profit issues. And the reason why profits are not where they should be is a far, far deeper issue vs. the tariff excuse.“
He further clarifies that he’s pointing out that the tariffs only account for one price increase. This second jump in price “is simply a different problem and they are going to make consumers continue to pay for those problems,” while tariffs remain “an excuse to continue raising prices.”
The tariffs introduced this year are undoubtedly part of the price increases on hardware from Nintendo, PlayStation, and Xbox. But Ybarra isn’t exactly wrong to point out that Microsoft raising its prices a second time, and the struggles it faces when competing with PlayStation and Nintendo go deeper and started well before this year’s tariffs came into the equation.
