By Sean Hollister
Publication Date: 2026-10-22 23:00:00
Fortune dropped a bombshell report on the future of gaming this week. According to the publication’s Microsoft insiders, the next Xbox is projected to cost between $1,200 and $1,800 when it arrives in 2028.
My first reaction: The next Xbox is dead on arrival. It’s DOA.
My second thought: Microsoft knows people won’t pay that much. It couldn’t possibly charge that much money if it wants next gen to be a success. “I wouldn’t release it at all,” former Microsoft exec Mike Ybarra recently said.
My third thought: Didn’t Microsoft already say out loud that it knows people won’t pay that much?
- Didn’t old Xbox boss Phil Spencer say “We’re not going to grow the market with $1,000 consoles”?
- Didn’t new Xbox boss Asha Sharma say “We’ve reached a point where it will be hard to imagine that mass audiences can afford thousands of dollars to spend” on a box?
- Didn’t Xbox chief strategy officer Matthew Ball say the entire company would change its practices to make sure…
