Phil Spencer: It's 'Not The Right Move' To Raise Price Of Xbox Series X|S

He says there are "no plans" right now

It is rather good to hear, but I'm not exactly filled with confidence they wouldn't reconsider later.

'We didn't come here to ***** spiders' - it's a long game for our corporate overlord.

With his....We think in a time where our customers are more economically challenged than ever... I think it's gd that a massive company accepts this ....oh Sony maybe take note

@FraserG Perhaps they've learned their lesson about absolutely guaranteeing something after previously promising to always include split screen co-op in future Halos...

Say whatever you want, that's another pebble in Sony's garden. I'll take Phil's virtue signalling over Jim's ruthless business practices any day.

@Sol4ris I am filled with more confidence following this statement. The part you 'highlight' may seem concerning, but to me that's more 'covering' themselves 'long term' if they find themselves having to raise prices. Then someone can't say "back in 2022, you said you'd 'never' raise prices".

The 'reassuring' aspect to me was 'We think in a time where our customers are more economically challenged than ever, we don't think that would be the right move.' In a few years time, things could be different, but also the 'cost' to make a Series console could be lower too as what normally occurs with technology and the Series S/X are getting 'older' in terms of technology inside...

Point is, them not saying they will 'never' rise prices is more them covering themselves for an 'unpredictable' situation in the future that may necessitate a price rise but they do state that the 'current' situation, whilst it is 'tough' for them, its tough for their consumers too so NOT a situation to 'raise' prices and as such have NO plans to raise prices. That 'never' raise, is more about covering themselves in case such a situation arises that MS have 'no' choice but to raise prices and then can't use what 'Phil' said in 2022 against them...

No one know what the future holds so saying no plans right now is really the best anyone can reasonably expect from any business.

Might sound redundant, but until they do, they haven't.

We'll see what happens over the next few years.

A lot of people are now going up latch on to the ‘can never say never’…rather than the important part, and clear dig at Sony, “We think in a time where our customers are more economically challenged than ever, we don't think that would be the right move." That’s an important statement right there.

I don't really care about this sort of "console war" due to the call of duty stuff and it will not going to happen but it would be sort of fun to see the aftermath if MS lowered the prices of its series consoles just to troll Sony.

In a more serious tone due to what he says it seems that they won't raise the prices of games or of game pass also.

Well duh a trillion dollar company thats in the middle of spending 69 billion dollars on an acquisition raising their prices wouldn't look very good , doesn't look good for Sony either when they've just spent a few billion on an acquisition

Well of course there is no point in increasing the cost of series s or x. They can’t sell them that well in the UK as it is now. Loads on my 9 local stores shelves sitting there and selling extremely slowly.
Others offering small gifts like a cheap game or carry case for free.

No plans right now. Itsdefinitely getting raised at some point

Forget a price rise - it's been nearly 2yrs; how about a price drop?? 🙂

Its good to hear, but not surprising. Microsoft have been prepared to run xbox at a loss to build market share for a long time. It wouldn't seem to make sense for them to raise prices right now, they are not running away with this gen. But their biggest undoubted selling point is the unmatched value of an xbox/game pass package, especially contrasted with Sonys pricing mishaps and controversies. Given the relative positioning at the moment, a decision to increase would have been pretty strange, whatever the cost pressures.

I don't think they're raising prices. Honestly, they can sustain losses for a bit anyway.

There's only one company doing that Phil, and we know who it is. Glad to see some people aren't blinded by it ...

Talking about console price hikes, Sony didn’t bump the price in the US but yesterday I noticed that at least Best Buy no longer even lists the PS5 on its own, at least not the disk drive version. They only list a Horizon 2 bundles that are $50 higher in price and the diskless version.

Of course, none of these are in stock but this made me think Sony has decided to only provide bundle units to at least some retailers in the US. For me, trying to get a second unit for my living room, and already owing Horizon, this is just a price hike.

Sony trying to argue what's good for consumers while price gouging its users.

Meanwhile both xbox and Microsoft have recorded record revenue in 2021 while offering the cheap gamepass subs, more affordable and more powerful console, $60 games, etc.

They are already some distance in sales behind the PlayStation 5, so for them it doesn't make sense to raise their prices, and instead keep their prices the same or if they feel daring they could lower their prices to help them catch up with playstation.

@uptownsoul Your argument totally falls appertaining when Nintendo are outselling both of them with ease and haven’t raised a single price. Also it is supply chain improvements that lead to consoles on shelf’s, not your opinion of dropped demand. The PS5 is now in shelf’s in some places did the demand drop for that too?

"We think in a time where our competitor inexplicably shot themselves in the foot in an unforced error and mailed us the toenail as a free gift, we don't think missing the opportunity to weaponize that would be the right move."

Raising the product price like that is silly for any company unless you feel so sure of your unshakable market dominance that nothing you do will break your hold on the consumer. Even NINTENDO is not raising prices. The company that traditionally sold updated consoles without a power supply as a hidden price increase. Let that sink in....

@UltimateOtaku91 They don't need to lower the price (although I would not complain) they just need to manufacture more of them, and faster.

I keep hearing here that there is no shortage of them in the UK, but there certainly is in the US. They could really gain a lead over PS5 in the US if they simply shipped more units. The race is neck and neck over here right now and its all supply bound.

@uptownsoul Not true. Microsoft, unlike Sony, made moves to sort out their supply chain, that's why they have consoles on shelves. It doesn't matter how many people demand a PS5 if none are available, it could be one person and they still wouldn't get their console.

Nintendo and Microsoft have no supply isues and both have stock on shelves. Sony pony's come up with the higher demand excuse time and time again when Nintendo have the highest demand, yet they still get the stock out to their customers.

Microsoft don't need or want to raise their prices, they sold the OG Xbox and the Xbox 360 at a loss, do you really think their long term plan is to raise the price of their console? Everyone knows the real revenue stream is the games you buy for the console, not the console itself. This generation is also fundamentally different for Microsoft as they're putting so much weight behind Game Pass, which doesn't even need a console in order for you to use it.

@Tharsman You can least get some resell value for that. There’s no reason Sony couldn’t have packaged in something in all territories. Hell it would have maybe even benefitted them putting a few months of extra or prime in the box…give people a taste and some would have no doubt subbed for longer

Also, they’re not selling the console at a loss anyway are they? They did it to remain in profit not take less of a loss

@Sol4ris that’s corporate speak for not going to. It’s like science or lawyer talk. You won’t get either of them to say with 100% certainly we’ll all wake up tomorrow but they’d likely say all current evidence points to that.

Makes sense. If you're behind and fighting to regain market share, it doesn't make sense to make your product less affordable for the average consumer.

Also, the smaller profit margins on Xbox hardware aren't as big a deal to a company as wealthy as Microsoft is. It's a hit they can afford to take.

Also, ultimately, Game Pass is the product, not the hardware itself. If your goal is to bump up those subscription numbers, it doesn't make sense to throw up unnecessary roadblocks.

This is a calculated risk Sony is taking in regions where they think they can remain the home console market leader by default. You'll notice they didn't bump up the price in NA where the Xbox is actually competitive.

They know they have a huge advantage going into X-mas & the New Year not doing it. Even doing some promo during Black Friday. MS is in a good place consumer wise. Imo, Sony is pushing it …