Microsoft has made its new European and UK console pricing official. The increase, which took effect on August 2, leaves the disc version of the Xbox Series X a full 33% more expensive than before — and the Xbox Series S isn’t spared either.

How much each model goes up

Model Price before Price now Increase
Xbox Series S 512GB €349.99 €499.99 +€150
Xbox Series S 1TB €399.99 €599.99 +€200
Xbox Series X Digital 1TB €549.99 €749.99 +€200
Xbox Series X Disc 1TB €599.99 €799.99 +€200

In the UK the pattern is the same: between £130 and £170 more depending on the model. Microsoft had already warned back in June that it would raise prices “worldwide” starting August 1, but held back the exact European and UK figures until the increase was already in effect.

The reason: memory is the bottleneck again

Microsoft blames the price hike on the global memory shortage, driven by demand from AI data centers. It’s not an isolated excuse: it’s the same dynamic that already pushed Nvidia and AMD to raise graphics card prices multiple times throughout 2026. What’s striking is that, according to several estimates, Microsoft would still be selling each console at a loss even after this increase — which gives an idea of just how much the real cost of building hardware has climbed this year.

Buy now or wait?

With memory as the root cause and no sign of it getting cheaper any time soon, there’s nothing pointing to these prices coming down soon — if anything, the opposite, judging by the pattern we’ve already seen with graphics cards. If you had an Xbox Series X or Series S purchase in mind for this year, the “wait for it to drop” argument just lost a lot of its weight.

Check the Xbox Series X price and availability on Amazon

Check the Xbox Series S price and availability on Amazon

Prices in this article reflect the time of publication and may have changed. Always check the current price on Amazon before buying.