Of all the potential Xbox Series X price leakers, we didn't expect Pringles to be the one who would reveal the price of Microsoft’s next-generation console.
But a leak coming from Pringles in South Africa for what looks like a listing for an upcoming competition to win an Xbox Series X every day for 46 days has given us an insight into the potential price of the Xbox Series X. And it's way too expensive to be believable.
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The total estimated value of that competition sits at 621,000 South African Rand, which when divided by 46 gives each Xbox Series X a price of around R13,500 that converts to $815. However, there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical.
First off, as Twitter tipster Cavie explained, the recommended retail price in South Africa is higher than other nations. So this alleged price of the Xbox Series X could be a lot higher than it will be in the U.S. or Europe.
Looks like Pringles, of all brands, broke the Xbox Series X price for South Africa. If my maths checks out, this puts the XSX at around R13,5K locally? Unsure if that's excluding tax. https://t.co/luosSEa8Qi pic.twitter.com/UsDe2tfcABSeptember 4, 2020
Secondly, this is an estimated price by Pringles. Just as a lot of retailers have holding prices, this price appears to be based on rough predictions rather than any inside information from Microsoft. We could be wrong, but the general trend for such leaks is they come from price estimates made by retailers and other companies.
A bit of extra math by Critical Hit has Pringles' estimated price converted to £611 in the U.K. But it reckons that price will translate to £599. And with the U.S. keeping some form of parity with Britain, the price could work out at $599, which is still very expensive for a games console.
That being said, the Xbox Series X will come with 12 teraflops of graphics power, fast NVMe custom SSD storage, ray-tracing capabilities and dedicated audio hardware. It’ll not only be huge step up from the Xbox One, but it'll also contain a lot of hardware that should advance console gaming. Equivalent gaming PCs with such hardware can sit around $1,000.
As such, it wouldn’t be beyond the realm of possibility for the Xbox Series X to be the most expensive console Microsoft has ever released. However, it seems like Microsoft will use the Xbox Series X as a vehicle to get people signed up to its Xbox Game Pass service as well as form the building blocks for a wider Xbox ecosystem. So Microsoft might not be interested in selling a lot of consoles at a high price.
With that in mind, it’s predicted that the Xbox Series X will undercut the PS5 by some $100. All in all, we don’t think the Xbox Series X will be priced at above $500; Microsoft can easily counterbalance a loss in hardware sales margins by making back money on repeat Xbox Game Pass subscriptions.
Despite both Sony and Microsoft having pre-orders live for their respective next-generation consoles, neither has revealed a price. It seems like they are playing a game of cat and mouse and seeing who blinks first and reveals the price.
Given the PS5 and Xbox Series X are expected to launch in November, a price reveal feels rather imminent. We’ll just have to see who breaks cover first.
