Xbox consoles are now a whole lot more expensive in the UK

Three Xbox consoles floating over a space like background — (Image credit: Microsoft)

Noticed the prices of everything techy are going up? Microsoft is the latest to announce some cost rises, this time for its Xbox game consoles.

And, brace yourselves, they are not small jumps.

The top-billing Xbox Series X with a disc drive and 1TB storage now costs £669.99, up from a launch price of £449.99 back in 2020, and £499.99 before this latest hike.

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Remember when game consoles used to get cheaper as they aged? We’re in a different world now folks, and it’s not a friendly one.

Here’s the full list of reworked prices:

Xbox Series S 512GB £429.99 (up from £299.99, £249.99 at launch in 2020)
Xbox Series S 1TB £519.99 (up from £349.99, £299.99 at launch in 2023)
Xbox Series X 1TB Digital £619.99 (up from £449.99, £429.99 at launch in 2024)
Xbox Series X 1TB £669.99 (up from £499.99, £449.99 at launch in 2020)

We’re looking at price rises of up to 43 per cent here. And it is not at all surprising, because the US had already been subject to major price increases. This one was coming.

It means the Xbox Series X now costs more than the PlayStation 5, which will set you back £569.99 direct from Sony. The digital-only version costs £519.99, while the PlayStation 5 Pro costs £789.99.

There are signs this could also get even worse, too. According to Windows Central, Microsoft is losing money with each Xbox sold in the US, which has already had comparable price hikes. It's losing up to $150 a piece according to the report.

So what on Earth is going on?

You can blame what has been dubbed the RAM-Apocalypse. The cost of the memory chips that go into these consoles has been increasing quickly for some time now, thanks to giant tech companies gobbling up supply in order to produce server infrastructure for the (supposed) AI-powered future.

There is a point at which buyers are just priced out of participating, though. After Valve was forced to increase the price of its Steam Deck by hundreds of pounds, analysis of chart data suggests sales dropped by up to 80 per cent.

And we’re not at the end of this ride yet, either. Analysts predict we’ll see the cost of RAM increase throughout the remainder of 2026, and into 2027. That means giants like Sony and Microsoft will likely have to wring even more money out of us for a console in the future, too.

Casual gamers considering an upgrade ahead of GTA 6’s November release may be in for a shock.

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Andrew Williams has written about all sorts of stuff for more than a decade — from tech and fitness to entertainment and fashion. He has written for a stack of magazines and websites including Wired, TrustedReviews, TechRadar and Stuff, enjoys going to gigs and painting in his spare time. He's also suspiciously good at poker.