REACTION - The Xbox first party price increase was expected but still unfortunate

Dropping some dolla.

By Jonathan Garrett
05/12/22

Rising development and publishing costs are an inevitable consequence of an industry continuing to balloon in scope and demand. Despite this being a generally accepted reality, that doesn’t make the increased cost to consumers sting any less. Coupled with Sony actually increasing the price of PS5 hardware two years after launch, it’s a rough time for keeping on top of new releases.

There is admittedly a number of counters to this particular issue. On the one hand, digital store sales are plentiful throughout the year, and Game Pass provides a decent alternative entry point (especially as first party titles are added day and date). Sony also have the various PS+ tiers, and although their exclusives don’t automatically drop on launch day, it’s still nice to have the option.

The difficulty that Microsoft faces is that 2023 is going to be a real proof of concept for their first party output. After 2021 had a barnstorming finish to the year, 2022 has been a mess of delays and vague release windows. If Microsoft want people to stay on board, they’re going to need to justify that increased cost with some seriously slick new software.