Talking Point: How Much Would You Be Willing To Spend On The Next Xbox Console?

There's every chance 2026 could be the year that a new Xbox console is announced. It's been rumoured before that Xbox might be targeting a 2027 launch (although recent rumours have suggested it could be delayed), and with the 25th anniversary of Xbox landing this November, it makes sense to have a big unveiling on that date - November 15th.

However, there are some potentially major roadblocks ahead for Microsoft, and indeed anyone hoping to launch new gaming hardware in the near future. We've already heard about how RAM shortages (due to AI) have led to massive price increases, meaning it's about to become significantly more costly to produce new Xbox consoles, new PlayStation consoles and whatever else.

There's also this idea that the next Xbox console is going to be more like a console/PC hybrid than anything we've seen before, integrating Windows support along with the ability to play games on Steam, the Epic Games Store and various other launchers. That's a very exciting prospect, but then Steam is trying to do with the same thing with the Steam Machine — and we don't yet know how much that'll cost.

We keep going back to a comment from Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer in late 2024, mentioning in an interview with Bloomberg that Xbox wasn't going to "grow the market with $1,000 consoles". He appeared to be addressing the release of the PS5 Pro, and to be fair we never thought a PS5 Pro competitor would be a good idea for Xbox, but we're starting to question whether Microsoft can actually avoid releasing a $1,000 console these days.

Look at the Xbox Series X and Series S — they've both received multiple price increases over the past few years, to the point where the Series X now retails for $649.99 in the US. Will this fancy new hardware with console and PC compatibility be able to avoid going above at least the $750 mark? It seems doubtful as things stand.

There's potentially a long way to go until then, of course, so in the meantime we're keen to hear from you on this matter (and thank you to Pure Xbox member Fiendish-Beaver for the topic suggestion!). There are obviously loads of factors that go into deciding how much you'd be willing to spend on a new console, but let's just say the next system ends up ticking most of your boxes — what would be your price limit?

How Much Would You Potentially Pay For The Next Xbox Console?

What did you pick in the poll? Let us know down in the comments section below.