Buying a new Xbox Series S|X console just became impossible to recommend in almost all circumstances

Microsoft has confirmed an Xbox Series X games console with 1TB will now cost a whopping £670 in the UK, which is remarkable £170 increase on the previous £500 asking price. The Xbox Series S with 1TB is up to £529 from £350.

The company had previously revealed plans to raise prices on August 1. However, back in June, only the specific increases for the United States were mentioned. Now we have the full picture in Europe and the United States too.

Considering the consoles were released six years ago, have never quite achieved their initial promise, are now believed to be entering the final years of its life-cycle, and are not even required to play most of the best Xbox games, it’s now impossible to recommend splashing the cash on this hardware as a newcomer to the format.

Through cloud gaming, Xbox Game Pass subscriptions lets users play hundreds of titles from the library on a large range of devices, from smartphones and handhelds to smart TV apps on Samsung and LG platforms.

If you already own a PS5, a number of the top Xbox games are now available there too. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Forza Horizon 5, Sea of Thieves and Starfield are all available on the PlayStation platform. By the same token, third-party games like EA Sports FC, Call of Duty and the forthcoming GTA 6 are also available on both platforms. In fact, one of the only ways to recommend an Xbox purchase at the current price, is the ability to play GTA 6 on a home console. We won’t see it on Game Pass, and its not clear whether it’ll be part of Xbox Cloud Gaming for own-game streaming. Probably not initially, at least.

Here are the new prices of the Xbox Series S|X for the US and Europe, where pries are going up €150/€200 across the board.

UK
Xbox Series S 512GB – £430 (from £300)
Xbox Series S 1TB – £520 (from £350)
Xbox Series X 1TB Digital – £620 (from £450)
Xbox Series X 1TB Disc – £670 (from £500)

EUROPE
Xbox Series S 512GB – €500 (from €350)
Xbox Series S 1TB – €600 (from €400)
Xbox Series X 1TB Digital – €750 (from €550)
Xbox Series X 1TB Disc – €800 (from €600)

Microsoft already confirmed the price increases for the US back in June:

Xbox Series S 512GB – $499 (from $399)
Xbox Series S 1TB – $599 (from $449)
Xbox Series X 1TB Digital – $749 (from $599)
Xbox Series X 1TB Disc – $799 (from $649)