Phil Spencer Says Xbox Series Price Hikes Unlikely, For Now

Sony turned a few heads when, unexpectedly, increased prices on the PlayStation 5 in the second year of the current console generation. Naturally, many wondered if the same complicated economic situations we all find ourselves in would see an Xbox price spike as well. In a recent interview with CNBC, however, Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, said raising the price of the Xbox Series line wouldn’t be a wise move for the company right now. He also explained that Microsoft has no plans to slow down its investment in game studios, despite Activision Blizzard’s offer.

While in Japan for the Tokyo Game Show, Phil Spencer appeared on CNBC to talk about Microsoft’s potential interest in acquiring more companies, how he sees himself in the Japanese video game market and whether or not Xbox will follow suit. PlayStation in a price hike. Spencer stopped short of “categorically” denying that Xbox would raise prices, and instead chose to highlight the success of the more budget-conscious Series S, as well as pointing out that while “customers are more economically disadvantaged and uncertain than ever,” the company is not currently planning to raise prices.

While this is a more direct acknowledgment that we shouldn’t expect any price increases in the near future, Spencer said that “going forward” the company can’t totally rule out the possibility of a price change.

We are always evaluating our business in the future. I don’t think we can ever say about anything that we’ll ever do something. But when we look at our consoles today, […] Series X and Series S, we believe value is extremely important. We like the Series S’s position in the market, which is our lowest cost console. More than half of our new players that we find come through S-series. And I can definitely say that we have no plans today to increase [the prices] of our consoles […] we don’t think it’s the right decision for us at this point to raise the prices of our console.

The topic of console pricing followed a conversation about acquisitions, as Phil Spencer said the competitive nature of the video game market means the company can’t “pause on anything”, exposing the size of its competitors, such as Sony and Tencent. The recent acquisition of Activision has certainly ruffled some feathers between Xbox and PlayStationparticularly regarding the future of Call of Dutycross-platform status of. Regarding acquisitions, Spencer said:

Tencent is the largest game company on the planet today and continues to invest heavily in game content and game creators. Sony is a bigger company than us in gaming today and they continue to invest. When you look at the investments we’ve made, it’s a highly competitive market. We strive to be a major player here. […] whether investing in our internal teams […] [or] build new partnerships.

Spencer also spoke about Xbox’s ambitions to expand into Japanese markets, where it has always struggled. He highlighted plans to build relationships with existing Japanese developers, similar to the company’s recent projects. partnership with Kojima Productions to bring an ambitious, upcoming title to Xbox.