This article was updated on 9.6.2020 with more details about potential pricing strategies for next-generation games.

The thing of waiting all that time to free up the price of your new console means the ball will inevitably be rolling in different places whether you like it or not. Which is why we have promotional material that mentions the Xbox Series S before it’s announced, and why we might have an Xbox Series X price leak from, of all places, Pringles. The company is holding a contest for the new Xbox Series X in South Africa, and a distinguished Twitter user took a look at the finer details to find that it included both the number of consoles awarded and the estimated value of those units. There’s a lot in the air about this, but let’s have a look.

We’ve seen leaks of this nature before, with the estimated prize pool used to try and fix the price. But there were more caveats out there, Console price and Infinite aura Not properly considered, and with a very specific disclaimer that the price estimate was not final. This is more specific and closer to when the price is supposed to be final. There is, again, a disclaimer there, based on the fact that the prize value can change before the product is released. As many assumed, the prices for these units may not be final yet.

But with a little quick math, that would make the price per capita for the Xbox Series X R13500, which, according to Google, translates to $ 815. Don’t worry, we won’t have a $ 815 console. This is likely not the final price either in terms of the US dollar or the South African rand, because it does not include taxes and this kind of thing. Critical Hit argues that since this translates to £ 611, It could refer to something like the price of 599 pounds sterling in the UK, and possibly similar in terms of the US dollar. Again, here we are intentionally vague, because taxes and other changes in international prices mean that we will never look at 1: 1 either in terms of currency conversion or simple numbers.

It’s a bit indirect! Taken in a more general way that does not involve multiplying numbers in a calculator, then that also sort of counts as we have a larger number than we expected. As a general rule, people would view $ 499 as the low end and $ 599 as the high end for these things. The $ 599 might be a lot, but Microsoft could reasonably raise the price for its high-end console because it will also introduce the S Series.

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Although there isn’t an official Microsoft number yet, we know that the final price for the Xbox Series X will be influenced by a number of factors. The most important of these is the cost of building something. Which people previously estimated ranged from $ 460 to $ 520. This could mean that the $ 499 console would be sold for a loss once you had in mind marketing, shipping, and other logistics, and that the $ 599 console would sell for either less loss or a profit. Given Microsoft’s huge influence on the subscriptions and services for the future of its gaming business, it might not be entirely interested in monetizing the hardware this time.

However, the other major factor is the PS5 price. Microsoft isn’t pricing this thing in a vacuum, and no one forgot to sting the defeat after the PS4 came in with $ 100 under the Xbox One. This is the essence of the “price chicken” game that the two companies play: each wants to know what the other will do in order to have a better chance at matching or underestimating them, so neither of them wants to start first. It is also possible that neither company has committed to the final price because they are waiting for the other company’s announcement.

Meanwhile, one company appears to have come up with some kind of next-generation pricing scheme: Nvidia, which has priced the competing 3070 Series X and PS5 graphics card at $ 499. Which, if either or both consoles are priced at $ 599, it will start looking better than it is now.

We’ll see what happens … this month, maybe? We’ve long since passed the point where I was expecting to see the price and release dates of these devices, so it’s all just a mystery now. Both of these controllers will likely be sold on pre-orders regardless, giving companies an uncommon degree of flexibility. In order to unlock those, however, they need to tell us the cost of the controllers.