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Three days ago in a sprawling interview with Entertainment Weekly, new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said, "gaming is unaffordable in many cases." Today, Xbox announced price hikes for its consoles, the third in the last year.The increases don't go into effect until August, but it does hit 512GB models with a $100 bump, while 1TB consoles are going up $150. Xbox is also discontinuing its 2TB model.Swipe to scroll horizontallyXbox Console PricingConsoleOld PriceNew PriceXbox Series S 512$399.99$499.99Xbox Series S 1TB$449.99$599.99Xbox Series X Digital 1TB$599.99$749.99Xbox Series X 1TB$649.99$799.99Xbox Series X 2TB Galaxy Black Special Edition$799.99DiscontinuedThe Xbox announcement takes a contrite tone and even says that the company "hoped another price increase would not be necessary" after last October's hike.It all comes only a couple of weeks after a missive from Sharma and Xbox Studios head Matt Booty discussing how Xbox needed a reset, which was quickly followed by news of significant layoffs.It's a worrisome sign that Xbox knows this will be a problem when most of the announcement is loaded with buy now, pay later and other financing options.As with most price increase; blame AI
