The incessant need for more AI data centers has nearly butchered our hobby, but don’t worry, the corporations are feeling the heat, too.
Like all gaming hardware, the Xbox Series X|S’s infrastructure requires RAM. That RAM has to be purchased before being put into the machine. And so, recently manufactured consoles are subject to the disgustingly high prices of these components, thanks in large part to the high demand of AI data centers springing up around the world.
Because of this, Microsoft is selling these newer consoles at a loss, “losing around $150~ per Xbox Series X|S sold recently,” according to Windows Central’s Jez Corden’s sources. That’s even with the prices already having been hiked, and a main reason why they are yet again jumping in price as of this weekend. $150 may not sound like a lot when it’s Microsoft, but it all adds up in the end.
Starting on Aug. 1, all Xbox Series X|S consoles will increase by $100 to try and mitigate these losses. And where does that mitigation come from? Well, you, of course! You will need to pay more to try to absorb some of the shock from this AI revolution that no one has asked for.
I can’t even begin to fathom what this all means for the next generation of consoles, rumored to begin in 2027 or 2028 with Microsoft’s Project Helix and, presumably, Sony’s presumed all-digital-no-physical-disc-having PlayStation 6.
I would imagine that Sony and Nintendo are also feeling this same heat, hence price hikes of their own. Operating at a loss is just plain bad for business, but this is the bed that’s been made in the industry over the past few painful, harrowing, disheartening, and depressing years.
So, spare me if I don’t feel too bad for the money being lost by companies as the situation they helped put us all in continues to become increasingly unmanageable and horrifying by the day.
