Report: RAM shortage could lead to another Xbox price increase

Tech giant Microsoft could be set to increase the price of its Xbox consoles once more.

That’s according to Moore’s Law is Dead over on YouTube – as spotted by TGP – which claims that the Xbox giant has warned some of its partners that the ongoing shortage of RAM could force it to increase the costs of its consoles yet again.

This is due to RAM hardware being hoovered up by the increasing number of data centres that are powering the AI boom. OpenAI recently signed a massive deal with Samsung and SK Hynix to create 900,000 RAM wafer starts per month.

“[Microsoft] didn’t plan ahead at all, apparently,” Moore’s Law is Dead’s Tom said.

“If you still want an Xbox for some reason at their current pricing, those prices could go up soon, or supply could just entirely dry up because multiple sources of mine have apparently been warned by sales reps at Microsoft that this is going to affect the Xbox Series consoles very, very soon. Sooner rather than later.”

While Xbox allegedly didn’t have the foresight to buy up RAM hardware, the opposite is apparently true for PlayStation.

“From what I’ve heard, Sony planned ahead, bought up gobs of RAM near the bottom of the pricing, and thus they should be fine for months,” Tom continued.

“They have plenty of GDDR6, at least that’s what I’m told. Prices could go up eventually; I could see that happening next year… but there is a reason Sony is cutting PlayStation 5 pricing for Black Friday.

“They aren’t just doing this as some extreme move or because sales are bad. They can afford to do it; apparently, they are not worried about the RAM shortage, at least in the short to mid term.”

If Microsoft were to increase the price of its Xbox hardware, that would be the third time in 2025 alone; back in May, the company bumped the cost of its Xbox Series X by $100, while the Series X saw an $80 increase. That was before another price hike in September for US buyers.

The company also drew the ire of game consumers after it increased the price of some of its Xbox Game Pass subscription tiers.

GamesIndustry.biz has reached out to Microsoft for comment