Xbox is now £100 more expensive than PS5 after Microsoft's August price hike
Microsoft raised Xbox console prices across the UK and Europe on August 1, 2026, with the flagship Series X Disc edition jumping to £669.99 — £170 more than it cost last month. That single model now sits £100 above the PS5 Disc edition in the UK, a gap that will be difficult for Microsoft to explain away heading into the holiday season.
The new numbers
Every Xbox console in the lineup took a hit. In the UK, the Series S 512GB now costs £429.99 (up from £299.99), while the 1TB version climbs to £519.99 (from £349.99). The Series X Digital lands at £619.99 (up from £449.99), and the Series X Disc tops out at £669.99 (up from £499.99).
European buyers face similarly steep increases. The Series X Disc hits €799.99 — up €200 from €599.99 — making the nominal price in euros identical to the US dollar price, despite the dollar converting less favorably for European wallets.
Xbox Series S and Series X consoles at their new UK retail prices from August 1, 2026.
Microsoft justified the increases on its Xbox Wire blog, citing DRAM and storage component costs rising 2.5 times and projecting another doubling by fall 2027. That explanation tracks with broader semiconductor market pressures, but it doesn't change the competitive reality on store shelves.
A tough sell against the competition
The Series S was always pitched as the affordable entry point into current-gen gaming. At £429.99, it now matches the PS5 Digital in price while offering meaningfully less raw power. That positioning, once a clear win for Microsoft, has evaporated.
On the high end, the Series X Disc at £669.99 against the PS5 Disc at roughly £569.99 hands Sony a significant marketing advantage — and Nintendo's Switch 2 undercuts both at the budget end of the market.
There's also a transparency issue. Microsoft disclosed US prices in June but withheld UK and European figures until August 1, the day the increases went live. By contrast, Sony gave advance notice of PS5 price changes in April 2026, and Nintendo announced Switch 2 pricing well ahead of launch.
What buyers can do
For anyone already in the Xbox ecosystem, Game Pass and existing library investments still make switching awkward. But for anyone shopping fresh, the calculus has shifted. The PS5 now undercuts every equivalent Xbox model, and a mid-range gaming PC is increasingly competitive on value over a three-to-four-year horizon.
Microsoft hasn't signaled any plans to walk back the increases. Unless component costs fall faster than the company expects, these prices are the new baseline.