Former Blizzard president Mike Ybarra has criticised Microsoft’s recent price hike of Xbox consoles in the US, stating “console price increases are not tariff issues, they are profit issues”.
- Mike Ybarra criticized Microsoft's Xbox price hike.
- Xbox Series X costs $649.99 in the US.
- Microsoft reported an 18 percent revenue boost.
- Sony announced PS5 price hikes in August.
- Ybarra stated price increases are profit issues.
Last week, Microsoft announced the price increase and blamed “changes in the macroeconomic environment”, though didn’t mention tariffs specifically. Ybarra responded to the assumption in a post on social media, adding “the reason why profits are not where they should be is a far, far deeper issue vs. the tariff excuse.”
This price hike only affects consumers in the US. Now, an Xbox Series X costs $649.99 (or $599.99 for the digital version), while a Series S costs $399.99 for the 512MB model and $449.99 for the 1TB model.
“An excuse to continue raising prices, with no new increase in tariffs, is simply a different problem,”
— Mike Ybarra
Originally reported by www.eurogamer.net as “Tariffs used by Xbox as “an excuse to continue raising prices”, says former Blizzard president” on 2025-09-23 15:15:00.
