Microsoft said today that it currently has no plans to raise the price of the Xbox consoles, following a report that Sony plans to hike up the price of PlayStations across a few key markets.
A spokesperson for the company provided a statement to Windows Central following the Sony news, confirming that both the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S will remain at their respective recommended retail prices of $499 and $299.
The statement to Windows Central was provided in the wake of news released by Sony in an early morning post on the PlayStation blog today. In the post, Sony delivered the news that the recommended retail price of the PlayStation 5 would increase in virtually every major region with the exception of the U.S. PS5s in Europe, the U.K., Japan, China, Australia, Mexico, and Canada all saw price hikes.
Sony cited numerous economic issues as the reason for the PS5 price increases: “High global inflation rates” and “adverse currency trends” that have put a ton of pressure on various industries, including tech and hardware. Both editions of the PS5 (the digital edition and the Blu-ray disc drive version) received price hikes. The PlayStation blog post has received, at time of writing, three times as many comments as post likes, indicating a far less than positive community reaction to the news.
In addition to the decision to keep its consoles at the same price, Xbox and Microsoft continue to make strides in appealing to consumers by adding to its massively growing Game Pass catalog.
