"But while raising the price of the console for consumers makes at least some sense - even if it still sucks for everyone - this decision is completely insane, in my opinion. Xbox is already in a position where many developers are opting to skip porting their games to the console entirely because sales are so low, and even reportedly because the Series S is tricky to develop for."
"Tom Warren at The Verge broke the news, reporting that he was shown a Microsoft announcement given to developers. According to the memo, the price of Xbox development kits is immediately rising from $1500 to $2000. The memo cites "macroeconomics" as the cause, the very same reason Microsoft gave when bumping up the RRP of its consumer consoles last month for the second time this year."
"Notably, the 33% price hike correlates to the ongoing tariffs that America has, the very same ones that played a huge role in the consumer consoles becoming more expensive as well. There are, of course, plenty of other factors, too, like currency fluctuations, production costs and about a million other things. The price increase is not just for the US, either, as The Verge believes it's global."
Microsoft has increased the price of Xbox development kits from $1500 to $2000, a 33% rise, citing "macroeconomics" including tariffs, currency fluctuations and production costs. The increase appears to be global. Higher dev kit costs risk discouraging developers already reluctant to port games to Xbox due to low sales and difficulties developing for the Series S. Game Pass remains a contentious issue among creators while Series S/X sales stay weak. Given Microsoft’s substantial cash reserves, absorbing development-kit losses would be an investment in the platform’s future rather than imposing additional barriers to developer support.
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