Microsoft is Raising the Price of its Xbox Series X|S Consoles in Japan

Microsoft is planning to raise the price of its Xbox Series X and Series S consoles in Japan. Starting on February 17, the suggested retail price of both consoles in the country will receive a 5,000 yen ($38,42) price increase.

As a result, the new price of the Xbox Series X in Japan will be ¥59,978 ($421), while the Series S will cost ¥37,978 ($291). In a statement shared with Famitsu (via Gematsu), the company explained that the Xbox prince increase in the country was a “difficult decision.”

“After carefully evaluating the market condition in Japan, we have decided to change the suggested retail price of Xbox consoles in the country. We regularly evaluate the impact of local pricing to maintain reasonable consistency across regions. This price revision affects our customers and was a difficult decision to make, but going forward we will continue to provide the ultimate Xbox experience that our customers expect,” Microsoft said.

Last month, Microsoft already announced that it will raise the price of upcoming third-party games to $70 in 2023. This will apply to Xbox-exclusive games such as Starfield and Forza Motorsport, and Xbox head Phil Spencer also previously hinted at possible price increases for Xbox hardware.

“We’ve held price on our console, we’ve held price on games and our subscription. I don’t think we’ll be able to do that forever,” Spencer said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal back in October. Earlier in August, Sony had raised the price of its PlayStation 5 console in all markets except for the US.

It will be interesting to see if Xbox consoles also get a price bump in other markets throughout 2023. Microsoft actually slashed $50 off the price of its Xbox Series S console during the holiday season, and the discounted price hasn’t changed as of this writing.