Microsoft has raised Xbox console prices worldwide, with the premium Series X with a disc drive now costing £670, up from £500, and the baseline Series S rising to £430 from £300, according to BBC. The company said the increase was driven by higher memory and storage chip costs. In the US, basic consoles rose by $100 to $499, while a higher-memory model increased by $150 to $749; similar increases were also announced in the EU. Microsoft had said in June it hoped another price increase would not be necessary. The move comes as other tech firms, including Sony and Valve, have also lifted prices amid rising hardware and storage costs, which some companies have linked in part to demand from AI firms.