Petteri Pyyny
25 Jun 2026 16:51
Not even Microsoft is immune to the shockingly rapid increase in memory prices plaguing the tech world.
The company announced today that it will significantly raise the prices of Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S gaming consoles from the beginning of August. At the same time, the 2 terabyte model will be completely removed from the Xbox lineup, and consumers are being encouraged to acquire Xboxes either refurbished or on installment.
In the United States, prices will rise as follows:
For Europe, Microsoft has not confirmed exact prices, but a similar pattern likely applies here too, meaning that models with half a terabyte of storage will likely increase by one hundred euros, and models with one terabyte of storage will increase by 150 euros.
The company, however, reminds in its statement that even with the new, higher price, Xbox Series S is still the most affordable way to play certain top games.
And in that, Microsoft is indeed right, as Sony had to significantly raise the prices of Playstation 5 already in the spring. Also, the long-awaited Steam Machine console proved to be clearly more expensive than originally planned.
When talking about the memory crisis, it's good to remember that "memory" in this context refers to both the operating memory (RAM) of devices and the NAND memories used by SSDs and, for example, phones for storage. The prices of both have skyrocketed with the enormous growth of AI companies: AI companies are frantically building data centers around the world and the servers in them require vast amounts of memory and storage. This huge demand then drives up component prices for all other players - such as companies manufacturing game consoles.
The prices of gaming PCs have already completely soared beyond the reach of ordinary consumers as a result of the memory crisis, and now it seems that gaming consoles are also rapidly becoming more expensive.