5/1/2025: Microsoft Hikes Xbox Prices—Games Hit $80 And Console Prices Jump More Than 20%

Microsoft announced price hikes to its Xbox consoles and games Thursday, citing “market conditions” and rising costs of production, marking another major price hike to video games following President Donald Trump’s tariffs after Nintendo announced it would increase prices for its newly launched Switch 2 console.

Microsoft’s recommended retail pricing for its Xbox consoles will jump at least 20% for each version, according to a company announcement Thursday.

The cheapest Xbox console on the market, the Series S with 512 GB of storage, will jump from $299.99 to $379.99, a price hike of more than 26%, while the version with 1 TB of storage will rise from $349.99 to $429.99, an increase of more than 22%.

The Xbox Series X and Series X Digital will each rise $100 in price, the digital version from $449.99 to $549.99, and the Series X from $499.99 to $599.99.

Microsoft said it will also raise prices for some of its games to $80 in time for the holiday season, following in Nintendo’s footsteps after it also raised some game prices to $80 in April, breaking the previous industry standard of $70 for games.

Microsoft did not mention Trump’s tariffs by name in its announcement, though it cited “market conditions” and “the rising cost of development” as reasons for the price hikes.

Big Number

$729.99. That’s the new recommended retail price for the most expensive Xbox model—the Xbox Series X 2TB Galaxy Special Edition—according to Microsoft’s announcement. The price jumped more than 21% from its previous retail price of $599.99.

How Much Have Other Video Game Prices Increased?

Nintendo surprised some gaming fans in April by offering a higher-than-expected price for its new Switch 2 console, which sells for a recommended retail price of $450—much higher than the $300 the original Switch sold for at launch in 2017. Most of Nintendo’s Switch consoles are produced in China, Trump’s biggest tariff target, and Vietnam, which also faced steep tariffs. Joost van Dreunen, a New York University Stern School of Business professor who teaches about the business of video games, told Forbes the tariffs hit Nintendo at a “vulnerable moment” amid the Switch 2 rollout, stating the tariffs were probably steeper than the company expected. Nintendo had initially delayed pre-orders for the console, which launches in June, to “assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions,” after which it kept the Switch 2 at the $450 price tag but hiked the prices on various accessories by $5 to $10.

Chief Critics

Like the Nintendo price hikes, Microsoft’s Xbox hikes drew backlash from gamers. Red Gaming Tech, popular video game reviewers who have more than 100,000 YouTube subscribers, slammed the price hikes as “absolutely CRAZY” in a post on X, citing the price of controllers, the most expensive of which now cost $200. Gamers on the r/gaming subreddit, which has more than 47 million members, slammed the price hikes. One of the most-upvoted comments on a thread about the new prices criticized the “HUGE increases,” calling it “laughable” that Microsoft would charge nearly $400 for the cheapest Series S Xbox console. “Nintendo was just the beginning and I’m afraid we all knew this,” another comment upvoted more than 1,000 times states, as some comments voiced fears more consoles and games will raise prices in the future.

Surprising Fact

Trump announced various tech products, including smartphones and computers, would be exempt from his wide-ranging tariffs—but video game consoles are not included among the exemptions, gaming publication Polygon reported.

Key Background

Microsoft’s announcement comes one day after it reported earnings for the January-March quarter. Microsoft said its overall gaming revenue is up 5% year-over-year, but Xbox hardware revenue—including Xbox console sales—was down 6% year-over-year.

4/24/2025: Micro SD Express Card Guide for Nintendo Switch 2

Nintendo Switch 2 comes with 256GB of storage right out of the box. However, if you own/buy a lot of games and would like to upgrade to a higher capacity of storage, you'll need a Micro SD Express card.

These are different from normal Micro SD, Micro SDHC, and Micro SDXC cards, denoted by the EX on the card. Normal Micro SD card speeds range from 2-312MB/s. However, to bring Nintendo Switch 2 somewhat closer in line with speeds that the SSDs that PS5 and Xbox Series consoles use, the system requires the use of high-speed "Express" memory. These speeds are upwards of 600-900MB/s.

The good news is that your Nintendo Switch 2 games will load faster. Both the system and cartridges for Nintendo Switch 2 utilize the Express technology which have led to the high prices of these cards for publishers and the creation of the "Game Key Card" to avoid this extra cost. But overall, new games for the console will load much faster. The bad news: your old Micro SD cards that you've been using for Nintendo Switch will not work on your Nintendo Switch 2 for storing game data–inserting your current Micro SD card will only show your screenshots and videos, but you cannot play games off of them, be it Switch 1 or Switch 2 games.

Micro SD Express cards are relatively new, but you can find some already on the market if you'd like to purchase one for Nintendo Switch 2. The small variation in the speeds of these cards are a miniscule difference and likely won't matter in everday gaming use.

Note - be careful you buy an "Express" card, and not an "Extreme" card, as Extreme cards are not Express. Again, look for the "EX" on the card itself.

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