Xbox consoles and Microsoft games get more expensive worldwide

Hardware price increases are driven by the US-China tariff wars, but the software problem is a much bigger one — here’s why

Microsoft has been forced into increasing the pricing of Xbox consoles due to the US-China tariff wars, but the company decided to do so in every country, not just the US. This is what “caught in the crossfire” means for consumers these days. (Image: Mika Baumeister, Unsplash)

It might have been expected by many — even inevitable in the eyes of some — but it’s still bad news for more consumers than anyone anticipated, so it’s a business decision worth a closer look: Microsoft announced that it’s raising the prices of most Xbox consoles and peripherals, worldwide, effective immediately. The company did not explicitly mention the increased tariffs imposed by the Trump administration as the reason behind this decision, but things between tech companies and the current US president are somewhat tense at times, so this is an “adjustment” that was made “given market conditions and the rising cost of development”. Right.

As experienced business analyst Daniel Ahmad explains on Twitter, Xbox consoles and certain Xbox accessories are subject to tariffs of 145% when entering the United States because they are manufactured in China. If those tariffs were fully applied to Xbox products sold in the US, they would drive their pricing to absolutely ridiculous heights — so Microsoft decided to increase the prices of said products globally, at a decidedly lower rate, in order to soften the blow to…