Microsoft confirmed at the end of last year that there is a plan to increase the prices of the Xbox Series devices around the world, and according to what was recently announced, the prices of the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S will increase in Japan starting from February 17th.
Microsoft announced an increase of 5,000 yen per platform, bringing the Xbox Series X from 54,978 yen to 59,978 yen and the Xbox Series S from 32,278 yen to 37,978 yen.
A Microsoft Japan representative said in a statement to Famitsu “After carefully evaluating the market situation in Japan, we have decided to change the suggested retail price for Xbox consoles in the country. We regularly evaluate the impact of local pricing to maintain reasonable consistency across different regions.”
“This price revision affects our customers and was a difficult decision to make, but moving forward, we will continue to deliver the unlimited Xbox experience that our customers have come to expect,” the company representative continued.
The decision comes several months after Sony raised the price of the PlayStation 5 in Japan, Europe, the United Kingdom, Africa, Canada and other regions. This was due to “high global inflation”, with the PS5 selling for 60,478 yen, while the digital version costs 49,478 yen.