Microsoft has joined Sony, Ubisoft, 2K Games and Activision as the latest company to increase its game prices to $70. Microsoft says that starting in 2023, new full-priced games released from any of its first-party studios will come with a new price tag of $69,99.
The first of these games include Redfall, Starfield and Forza Motorsport. The company says that it held off on the price hike until 2023 to offer some relief for gamers. However, come 2023, all new game releases will come with a higher price tag.
“We’ve held on price increases until after the holidays so families can enjoy the gift of gaming. Starting in 2023 our new, built for next-gen, full-priced games, including Forza Motorsport, Redfall, and Starfield, will launch at $69.99 USD on all platforms. This price reflects the content, scale, and technical complexity of these titles. As with all games developed by our teams at Xbox, they will also be available with Game Pass the same day they launch.”
The news doesn’t come as a surprise. The new generation of gaming immediately launched out of the gate with higher-than-usual game prices. Sony, Activision and Take-Two all rolled out the $70 price tag back in 2020. Sony has even increased the price of its PS5 hardware lineup this year to match the unstable economy around the world.
Microsoft has hinted that the Xbox Series X/S consoles will likely increase in price next year too. Phil Spencer recently stated that a price hike will happen but didn’t confirm exactly when. In a recent interview, he claimed that game prices, console prices and even Xbox Game Pass will all go up in price.
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. I do think at some point we’ll have to raise some prices on certain things, but going into this holiday we thought it was really important that we maintain the prices that we have.”
For those who don’t rent games through Xbox Game Pass, purchasing new Xbox titles in 2023 is going to be an expensive journey.
