Xbox Series Sales Through The Roof As Next Price Hike Looms
Xbox Series Sales Spike Ahead Of The Console's Imminent Price Hike
Somehow, there are still people buying Xbox Series X|S consoles. So many of them, in fact, that the Xbox console just had its best month of 2026, and its sales numbers in June were almost double what the console achieved during the same month last year.
Xbox Sold A Lot Of Consoles Last Month
Circana’s Mat Piscatella shared all sorts of data on console sales for June 2026 on Wednesday, chief among them being the shocking reveal that somehow, the Xbox Series X|S had a good month. A sharp uptick of 86 percent compared to its sales in June 2025, and while there are several reasons why that might happen, it’s still almost unbelievable that there are still so many people willing to buy new Xbox consoles considering the state of the company behind the platform and how much those consoles currently cost.
Xbox Series had a good June in the US. Units up 86% vs last June, avg price up as well. Highest US Xbox Series units this year. Last June, Xbox Series was seeing impact of the May price increase and the Switch 2 launch. So, big % growth on a smaller base last year. Still, good month for Xbox Series. — Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2026-07-22T13:10:36.123Z
It’s actually the rising price that’s likely the leading reason why Xbox just had its best month of the year. Yet another price hike was announced for the Series X|S at the end of June. An increase so big that Xbox has straight up discontinued the 2TB model of the Series X console, as even Asha Sharma knows that it will be too expensive.
The key detail here is that the second price hike hasn’t come into effect yet. The prices aren’t going up until August 1, which is almost certainly why Xbox console sales are up year-on-year. Not only that, but the last Xbox Series price hike was in May 2025. Combine no one buying the more expensive consoles last June with people now buying them for that same price before the MSRP goes up again, and suddenly that 86 percent uptick starts to make sense.
Other Reasons Why People Are Still Buying Xbox Consoles
Piscatella highlights some other reasons why people might have been tempted to pick up a new Xbox in June. It came hot off the heels of the release of Forza Horizon 6, a game that, with Halo and Gears of War not what they used to be, might be considered Xbox’s flagship series in 2026. There’s also GTA 6 coming up, which, even though it “plays best on PS5” will also be available on Series X|S. It’s possible more people than you might think went ahead and picked up an Xbox with their GTA pre-order to squeeze in a few games between now and November.
With the price hike not in place until August 1, it’s possible, even likely, that the Series X|S has a decent July, too. That’ll likely be it for the console for a while, though. Probably until this time next year when we get another price increase and more people rush to buy one before it gets even more expensive.