Sony’s announcement regarding the PS5 price hike definitely raised some eyebrows worldwide. Moreover, the exclusion of Japan and the USA from this hike was even more surprising. In response to this, Microsoft reassured fans that it didn’t plan to increase the price of the Xbox Series X|S. Now, Xbox boss, Phil Spencer, has shed more light on the thought process behind this decision.
As reported by CNBC (via VGC), Spencer said "when we look at our consoles today[...]we think value is incredibly important” Spencer also mentioned that 50 percent of its new customers have been acquired thanks to the Series S, Xbox’s cheapest console.
He further explained that while the company can't rule anything out, Xbox didn’t have any plans to up the prices at the moment. “We think in a time when our customers are more economically challenged and uncertain than ever, we don’t think it’s the right move for us at this point to be raising prices on our console.”
Xbox fans will welcome this statement, as opposed to the backlash Sony received after its announcement. Interestingly, Sony boss Jim Ryan had mentioned how the price rise was in response to the "challenging economic conditions." On the other hand, Spencer said the company doesn’t want to put any pressure on its customers because of this situation.
Sony and Microsoft have always been at loggerheads over the years in the so-called ‘Console War’. However, things seem to have gotten worse recently, owing to the Activision acquisition by Microsoft. Sony has argued that this acquisition hinders the availability of global titles such as Call of Duty on PlayStation and has even supported the UK in its investigation into the deal. Microsoft acknowledged this and mentioned that it offered to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation for several years, but Sony deemed the deal "inadequate".
As for now, both console giants are yet to reach a consensus regarding the future of Activision titles on PlayStation.