Head of Xbox Phil Spencer has been speaking about the recent announcement that major first-party Xbox games will be getting a price increase beginning in 2023, jumping from $59.99 to $69.99 at launch.
In his conversation with the Second Request podcast, Spencer explained that "something had to give" when it came to pricing, especially given the "economic realities" of the situation:
"Just given our economic realities right now, something had to give in terms of us continuing to run the business with the increased cost basis that we had."
Spencer went on to discuss the increase further, pointing out that the likes of Xbox Game Pass and the Xbox Series S remain extremely well priced in the market right now:
"We had held off as long as we could, and we still like the fact that our [Game Pass] subscription is at the price it's at, our console with our Series S is the lowest price current-gen console in the market..."
"...and managing the business, the move we decided to make was on the retail pricing of our largest games, and it's really just the cost basis of building those games and ensuring we can run the business in the right way for our customers."
The Xbox boss admitted earlier this year that there were plans to "raise prices" in the future, but based on these comments, it sounds like it'll just be Xbox first-party games that get an increase for the time being. We wouldn't be surprised if Xbox Game Pass goes up in price eventually too though, especially given the big lineup ahead for 2023.