[DigitalToday reporter Jinju Hong (홍진주)] An analysis says Microsoft’s Xbox Series X is becoming less attractive to buy due to price hikes, higher game subscription fees and weaker differentiation from PCs. Hardware performance remains strong, but the cost burden has grown and it is seen as being at a disadvantage in competition with Sony’s PlayStation 5 Pro.

Engadget reported on Oct. 27 that the Xbox Series X, launched in November 2020 at $499, now sells for about $725 to $900 in 2026 depending on storage capacity and model. The 1TB disc model typically sells for $799, while the digital-only 'Robot White' model sells for $750. That marks a sharp increase in the price burden compared with launch.

The price rise is attributed to stronger demand for memory and storage devices. AI data centres are consuming large quantities of related parts, increasing pressure on console manufacturing costs, the report said. The Series X still delivers strong gaming performance, but it has become harder to persuade consumers as it is older hardware and its price has risen, the analysis said.

The price and structure of the Game Pass subscription service are also seen as a burden. Game Pass Ultimate rose to $19.99 a month in July 2024, and Microsoft raised it to $29.99 in October 2025. After user backlash continued, the current price was lowered to $22.99 a month.

Differences in benefits by plan are also clear. Essential, at $9.99 a month, offers about 50 games, and Premium, at $14.99 a month, offers more than 200 games but does not include new titles on launch day. Users must choose the Ultimate plan to play new releases on release day. Cloud streaming, once seen as an advantage of Ultimate, is now limited to 15 hours a month, and additional use costs extra. Still, it can remain an economical option for users who play high-priced new releases such as Forza Horizon 6 through a subscription.

Weaker differentiation from PCs is also lowering the need to buy the Series X. Users with a gaming PC or laptop with sufficient performance can access more than 300 games through PC Game Pass, which costs $13.99 a month. Major Microsoft new titles such as 'Gears of War: E-Day' can also be played on PC from launch day. The game libraries on PC and console do not fully match, but with fewer console-only exclusives, critics say there is less incentive to buy separate hardware.

The Series X also faces pressure in a performance contest with Sony’s PS5 Pro. The Series X’s graphics processing unit performance is 12.15 TFLOPS, lower than the PS5 Pro’s 16.7 TFLOPS. Both devices use custom AMD RDNA-based chips and support ray tracing, but the PS5 Pro is assessed as leading in graphics performance.

By contrast, the central processing unit is not much different as both products use an AMD Zen 2-based 8-core, 16-thread configuration. The PS5 Pro’s clock speed is 3.85GHz, while the Series X is 3.8GHz. As a result, in genres heavily affected by CPU performance, such as open-world games, the gap in frame rates may not widen as much as the difference in graphics performance.

This competitive landscape also ties into expectations for the upcoming 'GTA VI'. As demand for playing GTA VI in an optimal environment concentrates on the PS5 Pro, the product has been listed in the second-hand market at prices close to $1,400. The PS5 Pro’s official price is $899. Engadget suggested the PS5 Pro may have an advantage in image quality based on Sony’s upscaling technology, PSSR 2.0, while also forecasting that both consoles could remain at 30 frames per second in GTA VI.

Ultimately, the Xbox Series X is still a high-performance game console, but buyers are in a position where they must consider higher device prices and subscription fees, overlap with PCs and performance gaps with competing products. The analysis said the total cost of playing games and the value of exclusive content have come to have a greater impact on purchase decisions than the console’s performance alone.