Microsoft has just announced price increases across the globe for Xbox consoles and controllers, and the company also said some first-party titles might increase in price to $80 starting this holiday season. Unfortunately, it’s not a small jump; the price for many console models increased by at least 20 percent.
The lowest-priced console, the Xbox Series S 512GB model, is moving from $300 to $380, while the Xbox Series X is increasing to $600 from $500. If you want to snag the Xbox Series X 2TB Galaxy Black SE model, start saving your pennies: it’s now an unbelievable $730. Xbox controllers will now start at $65, while the Xbox Wireless Headset will start at $120. However, the Xbox Adaptive Controller will remain the same price.
That’s quite a jump all around. There is a small silver lining: no price increases have been announced for Xbox Game Pass, and the increased game price will only apply to new titles launching this holiday season. All existing games should remain the same price. It also won’t affect all new games, although Microsoft hasn’t said which titles will see an increase.
These prices aren’t just for the United States, either. Microsoft says the change is global, with European and Australia also getting a hike.
Microsoft writes, “We understand that these changes are challenging, and they were made with careful consideration given market conditions and the rising cost of development. Looking ahead, we continue to focus on offering more ways to play more games across any screen and ensuring value for Xbox players.”
The announcement comes on the heels of similar news from Nintendo, with its first-party Nintendo Switch 2 games finding themselves the topic of public outcry. Microsoft also just posted its third-quarter earnings, showing increased revenue overall with much of that owed to Xbox Game Pass and other cloud services.
The higher prices will likely drive more players to the subscription services. Almost all first-party Xbox titles come to Game Pass on day one, and gamers on a budget will most likely be drawn to the service in order to play more games without dropping a small fortune each time a new title releases.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.