Engadget

In the immediate aftermath of Microsoft's announcement that it was raising prices of the Xbox Series X and S for the third time this generation, a tiny trend broke out on our technology news feed. A smattering of stories appeared encouraging readers to run out and buy an Xbox console before the price hike goes into effect on August 1. Combine this deadline with the allure of active Prime Day deals on Xbox consoles, and the message from these articles is clear: The best and most fiscally responsible time to buy an Xbox is right now, so go do it.

Allow me to play devil's advocate.

While it often makes sense to plan purchases around known price hikes, it's a dumb time to buy an Xbox. Yes, even with discounts offering an Xbox Series S for $350 and an Xbox Series X for $573 — hell, especially at these prices. In 2020, the Xbox Series S launched at $300 and the Xbox Series X was $500. Over the past couple of years, I personally picked up a Series X for less than $400 and a Series S for $250. These consoles are now in their sixth year, and normally around this time in the generation, hardware prices would be dropping and we'd be getting cool colorways and bundles. Today's discounted Xbox prices are obscene for a console entering its sixth year.

It's worth noting that today's marketplace is uniquely unmoored, fueled by a memory and storage shortage that's driving up hardware prices across the tech industry. However, Microsoft is a core part of the problem here. The company is exacerbating the RAM shortage with massive investments in AI data centers, and its feigned ignorance around spiking Xbox console prices is laughable.

Corporate chicanery aside, it's simply not a great time to buy into the Xbox ecosystem. You could say there's never been a worse time, in fact. Microsoft is in disarray following years of layoffs and studio closures, falling console profits, and executive-level changes to the Xbox business in 2026. Just this month, news broke that Double Fine, Ninja Theory and Compulsion Games are in imminent danger of being shut down, while new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and Chief Content Officer Matt Booty set the stage for more layoffs in July.

On the software side of things, Xbox doesn't have a ton of exclusive games, as its first-party titles are widely available on PC. Its recent hits like Avowed, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Keeper are all available on Steam, and Xbox is legally obligated to distribute its largest first-party franchises (i.e., Call of Duty) across platforms. That's not to mention the push to get its games on PlayStation and Switch, no matter how short-lived that may end up being. One of Microsoft's loudest marketing points has been the fact that its games will work on subsequent consoles and eventually come to PC, and even if they're not saying it out loud any more, the company is a leader in platform-agnostic cloud play. When everything is an Xbox and Xbox games are available anywhere, you don't really need an Xbox at all.

There is zero reason to rush out right now and buy a six-year-old gaming console for more than its launch price, just because it's going to become even more expensive soon. If you haven't needed an Xbox before now, chances are, you still don't need one. This might be rich coming from a consumer tech blog, but there is no real-world achievement for collecting every piece of contemporary gaming hardware — the closest we get is clout, but the returns on social media likes and comments are hollow and diminishing. Unlike Xbox prices, which are only rising. The actual smart move is to wait until the next generation hits — which is apparently very soon — and either pick that up or grab a Series console that will then be priced to clear.

This is nothing against the media outlets that've run stories encouraging people to take advantage of Prime Day Xbox console prices. Truthfully, there is a very small market for this advice and it's fine to show these six people where the best deals are at the moment. But as general-audience advice, it sucks.

Besides, aren't you saving up for a Steam Machine right now?