Xbox consoles now cost an ‘insane’ £670 – with prices expected to double AGAIN

XBOX prices have increased to the highest ever with Microsoft blaming rising costs of memory chips amid an AI boom. The price of the iconic games console has gone up globally, with a hike of £170 for the most premium Xbox model. The price of gaming technology is increasing all over the world amid a new era of AI Credit: Bloomberg Microsoft says the price hikes are down to memory chips becoming more expensive Credit: Getty The price of the gaming gadget has reached an all time high, with the Series X model featuring a disc drive now priced at £670. The same console previously had a price tag of £500. Sign up for the Tech newsletter Thank you! The Xbox Series S has suffered a significant spike in price, too, now costing £430, while it previously retailed at £300. When the Xbox first launched its debut model in 2001, it retailed for $299 or around £220. The Xbox 360 followed in 2005, with a price tag of £209 for a basic model and £279 for a premium model. Microsoft has said that the rocketing costs of its Xbox is down to memory and storage chips getting more and more expensive. The tech giant said in June that it “hoped another price increase would not be necessary”. “The entire consumer electronics industry is struggling with the current components crisis, but the effects are particularly hard on consoles,” Microsoft added. Most read in Tech The company continued to explain that while the cost of storage and memory technology has already doubled, it’s expected to double again by next year. Demand for memory components like RAM (random access memory) chips has increased amid the recent boom in artificial intelligence. The need for data microchips has increased with the growing, everyday use of AI – which requires large data centres to run. Sony has also been impacted by the growing requirements for memory chips in the tech world and was forced to increase the price of the PlayStation 5. Back in March, the cost of the console rose by £90 to £569.99. The increase has not been well received by users. One Reddit user posted: “That’s insane, I paid 500€ for a Series X on launch week, and it’s 800€ now…” Another posted: “No way I’m replacing mine if it dies” Comment now