Summary
Over the past few weeks, there have been a few key indicators as to how theXboxbusiness is performing, with a variety of issues breaking into the mainstream. These have ranged from price increases and value cuts to falling sales.
Now, amidst what is a difficult time for the company,Microsofthas announced a price increase in one of its most notoriously difficult markets.
Microsoft Confirms Price Increase For Xbox Series S And X In Japan
In a press release on itsJapanese websiteviaFamitsu, Microsoft confirmed that its latest consoles would be seeing the following increases:
This equates to a roughly 12 percent increase for theXbox Series Xand theXbox Series S1TB and around a 17 percent increase for the Series S 512GB model.
It’s an interesting move, given the Japanese market has typically been the biggest that Microsoft has failed to crack. Current estimates put the Xbox Series of consoles ataround 600k units soldsince launch versus around5.6 million for the PlayStation 5, meaning that Sony’s console is selling at an almost 10:1 rate of Microsoft’s.
A key factor of the increase is likely to be the strength of the Japanese Yen. The currency is currently at itslowest rate versus the US Dollarsince around 1990, over 30 years, meaning Microsoft is effectively making less money per console sold in Japan.
The Xbox’s Ongoing Worries
Over the past few weeks, Microsoft has had a litany of concerns, this increase being just one.
Early last month, Microsoft hit the news cycle by announcingan increase in Xbox Game Pass pricesand the creation of a new “Standard” tier. TheGame Passchanges were slammed by fans as"Confusing" and “Absurd,” and by the FTC, whichlabeled the increase as “Product Degradation,” essentially meaning that customers are getting a worse deal for their buck.
These increases were then followed by Microsoft’s financial results, which confirmed that revenue from the company’s hardware saleshad dropped by a whopping 42%, with the latest console series' salestrailing behind the Xbox One and Xbox 360. Part of this could be attributed to the fact that the company admitted itdoesn’t advertise as much as PlayStation does in Europe.
While not a financial concern, Xbox was also in the news cycle recently,thanks to the death of the Xbox 360 Marketplace.
Xbox Series X
Launched in 2020 in conjunction with the Xbox Series S digital-only console, the Series X is the disc version of Microsoft’s premier gaming platform.
