Xbox Price Reset Pushes Entry Console Near €500 in Europe

Microsoft has redrawn the Xbox price ladder in Europe and the United Kingdom, and the sharpest change is not confined to the most expensive console. Every Series S and Series X configuration in the newly reported list costs substantially more than before. Three models add €200 in the EU and £170 in the UK. Even the lowest-priced machine now approaches €500.

The European and UK figures were reported on August 2, 2026, following Microsoft's U.S. price announcement in June. The new list covers two Series S configurations and two 1TB Series X versions, one digital and one with a disc drive. It also arrives during a storage squeeze that is removing the 2TB model from the range.

The increases do not move all buyers by the same proportion. Because the original Series S prices were lower, a similar cash addition creates a steeper percentage jump at the entry end. That distinction is important for anyone comparing the new sticker prices with the old hierarchy rather than looking only at the largest euro or pound amount.

Four Models Move to a Higher Price Band

The 512GB Series S rises from €349.99 to €499.99 in the EU and from £299.99 to £429.99 in the UK. Those are increases of €150 and £130. Calculated from the listed prices, the changes work out to about 42.9 percent and 43.3 percent respectively.

The 1TB Series S makes the largest proportional move. Its EU price changes from €399.99 to €599.99, a €200 or 50 percent increase. In the UK, it goes from £349.99 to £519.99, adding £170 and roughly 48.6 percent. A buyer choosing the additional storage therefore encounters a new price that is half again as high as the previous EU figure.

Series X pricing climbs by the same €200 and £170 cash amounts, but from higher starting points. The 1TB digital model moves from €549.99 / £449.99 to €749.99 / £619.99. That is about 36.4 percent in euros and 37.8 percent in pounds. The disc-drive model rises from €599.99 / £499.99 to €799.99 / £669.99, equivalent to roughly 33.3 percent and 34 percent.

The Entry Tier Absorbs the Steepest Percentage Shock

The four calculations expose two different stories inside the same announcement. In cash terms, three consoles share the maximum increase. In percentage terms, however, the 1TB Series S leads the list, while the 512GB Series S follows close behind. The two Series X configurations post smaller proportional increases because their previous prices were already higher.

That changes the meaning of the Series S choice. The 512GB model remains the cheapest Xbox in the reported list, but its new EU price is only €100 below the 1TB Series S and €250 below the digital Series X. In the UK, the corresponding gaps are £90 and £190. Before the reset, moving from the 512GB to the 1TB Series S cost another €50 or £50; the new gap is twice as large in euros and £40 wider in pounds. Buyers still have clear steps between configurations, yet the starting step itself now demands far more of the budget than it did before.

The spacing also shows what the extra money buys within the published labels. Moving from the 512GB to the 1TB Series S adds €100 or £90. Moving from that 1TB Series S to the 1TB digital Series X adds €150 or £100. A disc drive then adds another €50 or £50. That final premium is unchanged from the old difference between the two listed Series X models, even though both underlying prices have climbed. Those comparisons do not erase hardware differences; they show how Microsoft has arranged the new checkout decisions.

Storage Pressure Is Shrinking the Lineup

The Verge reports that this is Microsoft's third Xbox price round since May 2025. It also says the highest-end model now costs $300 more than its $499.99 U.S. launch price in 2020. The European list is therefore part of a sequence rather than an isolated regional correction, even though the current figures arrive after the U.S. prices were disclosed separately. Three rounds in little more than a year also make the immediately previous price, rather than the launch sticker alone, the more useful baseline for today's buyer.

At the same time, Microsoft is retiring the 2TB model amid a storage crunch. The source links broader console price pressure to rising RAM and storage costs as the AI industry increases demand. Removing the largest-storage option and raising the remaining configurations point in the same operational direction: memory and storage are shaping both what stays on sale and what each retained model costs.

The New Ladder Changes the Upgrade Decision

For a buyer, the useful comparison is no longer simply old Xbox against new Xbox. It is the distance between the four choices in today's published list. The €499.99 entry point makes the 512GB Series S easier to compare with the €599.99 1TB version, while the €749.99 digital Series X sits closer to the €799.99 disc model than either does to the entry machine. The UK ladder follows the same order with different gaps. Choosing disc support over the digital Series X now means paying about 6.7 percent more in euros or 8.1 percent more in pounds, calculations based on the new listed prices.

The price reset leaves Microsoft with a clear four-step range, but each step begins from a much higher floor. The lower-cost consoles carry the heaviest percentage increases, the Series X models carry the largest final prices, and the 2TB option is leaving altogether. That combination makes storage capacity and disc support more consequential at purchase time, because buyers are now assigning them within a narrower lineup and against increases that reach €200 or £170.