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”.
Last week, Microsoft announced the price increase and blamed “changes in the macroeconomic environment”, though didn’t mention tariffs specifically.
Still, Ybarra – who left his position as corporate vice president of Microsoft’s gaming division in 2019 – 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.”
In a later response, Ybarra added the previous price increase in May was justified due to the rise in tariffs at the time, but that’s not the case with this new rise.
“An excuse to continue raising prices, with no new increase in tariffs, is simply a different problem,” he said, “and they are going to make consumers continue to pay for those problems.”
This price hike only affects consumers in the US, which is why tariffs have been seen by some as the primary reason.
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.
Despite the “changes in the macroeconomic environment”, Microsoft reported an 18 percent boost in revenue at its latest earnings call, with Xbox Game Pass making almost $5bn in annual revenue.
Sony also announced a price hike for its PS5 consoles in the US back in August, with the base PS5 costing $549.99, the digital edition costing $499.99, and the PS5 Pro costing $749.99.
