{"id":375,"date":"2026-06-12T16:12:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T16:12:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=375"},"modified":"2026-06-12T16:12:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T16:12:25","slug":"xbox-ceo-is-preparing-gamers-for-when-hardware-is-a-luxury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=375","title":{"rendered":"Xbox CEO Is Preparing Gamers for When Hardware Is a Luxury"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Xbox CEO Asha Sharma is standing up on her soapbox, telling gamers what they don\u2019t want to hear: gaming hardware is getting too damn expensive. Because of spiking memory prices, players may not be able to afford that shiny new console on the horizon. So Xbox has to do something drastic, and that may require rejuvenating Xbox Cloud Gaming with\u2014you guessed it\u2014ads.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=373\">SpaceX Hits Wall Steet With the Biggest IPO in History<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The entire Xbox business is heading toward a \u201creset,\u201d according to an open memo sent to Xbox employees co-written by Sharma and head of Xbox\u2019s publishing arm, Matt Booty. The situation is dire. Microsoft\u2019s gaming execs told staff that console storage components were already 2x more expensive than they were last fall. Xbox\u2019s leadership expects memory prices to soar to 5x what the company had previously paid a year ago. That\u2019s going to pose a problem for Xbox\u2019s \u201cProject Helix\u201d next-gen console.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile the entire industry is facing a components crisis, we believe we have been impacted more greatly than many of our peers due to the choices we made over the last half-decade,\u201d Sharma and Booty stated in their letter to staff, setting the stage for potential staff cuts and a larger business restructuring next month. \u201cWe are currently unable to make as many consoles as players want to buy, and we need a new business model and partnerships for hardware as we remain committed to Helix.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Whatever that means for the console, the next stage will also require rethinking how the company looks at its entire product stack\u2014including Xbox consoles, PCs, and its Game Pass subscription. The recently installed head of Xbox\u2019s strategy chief, Matthew Ball, told The Game Business\u00a0that Xbox\u2019s previous strategy of focusing solely on Game Pass had put the company behind its competitors, leading to more supply issues. Ball, citing industry sources, claimed that memory may be constrained by 30% to 40% going into next year. Because of that lack of memory availability, the Xbox chief strategy officer said the company was \u201crethinking\u201d Project Helix \u201cto make sure it is affordable.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The real question is what is affordable in this day and age. The head video game industry analyst at Circana, Mat Piscatella, wrote on Bluesky that the majority of households that bought a console in Q4 2025, 53%, make $100,000 or more annually. To put that into perspective, U.S. census data says the median household income in the U.S. is around $80,000. The Game Business\u2019 Chris Dring brought up those figures, though Ball did not directly address how much Xbox can expect most families to spend on a single console.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=371\">GoPro Mission 1 Pro Review: The Best GoPro, Just Not the Best Camera<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Xbox hiked console prices twice in 2025, and that was even before the cost of memory started to spike late last year. The Xbox Series X\u00a0now costs $650 for the version with a disc drive, $150 more than it did at launch in 2020. That was before memory prices started to soar. In October last year, Xbox worked with PC maker Asus to push an ROG Xbox Ally X gaming handheld for $1,000. There\u2019s a new ROG Xbox Ally X20\u00a0coming in 2026 with a prettier OLED display that Asus has already confirmed will cost even more. Just how much will depend on what RAM prices look like in the next six months.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>According to Ball, Xbox could use advertising \u201cto offer more affordable alternatives,\u201d likely in the form of new Game Pass or Xbox Cloud Gaming subscription tiers. Ball related it to what you already see on streaming services like Netflix with its ad-based tiers (which, we should note, are really freaking annoying) compared to ever-more expensive ad-free tiers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe question is, are there opportunities for us to find cheaper products, different products, and different delivery models to allow the people who can\u2019t afford, or wouldn\u2019t try, or wouldn\u2019t test to be onboarded to our properties and franchises?\u201d Ball said.<\/p>\n<p>We cannot expect to return to a previous age, when a modern console cost less than $500. Xbox\u2019s strategy may be to offer more cloud gaming services as an on-ramp toward their console offerings. Just don\u2019t expect that console to be anything but a luxury.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=369\">How to Watch South Korea vs Czechia Free\u00a0? 2026 World Cup Live Stream<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Xbox expects rising memory and storage costs to push console prices higher than they already are. The answer may be ad-based Xbox Cloud Gaming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gadgets"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Xbox CEO Is Preparing Gamers for When Hardware Is a Luxury - Long Haul Moving Pros<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=375\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Xbox CEO Is Preparing Gamers for When Hardware Is a Luxury - Long Haul Moving Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Xbox expects rising memory and storage costs to push console prices higher than they already are. The answer may be ad-based Xbox Cloud Gaming.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=375\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Long Haul Moving Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-12T16:12:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=375#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=375\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ed9c8f732aec56889e8fd0602fe5af4b\"},\"headline\":\"Xbox CEO Is Preparing Gamers for When Hardware Is a Luxury\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-12T16:12:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=375\"},\"wordCount\":743,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=375#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/c8ca2ff27b83b568d5a82462b2f21958.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Gadgets\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=375#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=375\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=375\",\"name\":\"Xbox CEO Is Preparing Gamers for When Hardware Is a Luxury - Long Haul Moving Pros\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=375#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=375#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/c8ca2ff27b83b568d5a82462b2f21958.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-12T16:12:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ed9c8f732aec56889e8fd0602fe5af4b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=375#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=375\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=375#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/c8ca2ff27b83b568d5a82462b2f21958.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/c8ca2ff27b83b568d5a82462b2f21958.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":675},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=375#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Xbox CEO Is Preparing Gamers for When Hardware Is a Luxury\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Long Haul Moving Pros\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ed9c8f732aec56889e8fd0602fe5af4b\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Xbox CEO Is Preparing Gamers for When Hardware Is a Luxury - Long Haul Moving Pros","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=375","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Xbox CEO Is Preparing Gamers for When Hardware Is a Luxury - Long Haul Moving Pros","og_description":"Xbox expects rising memory and storage costs to push console prices higher than they already are. The answer may be ad-based Xbox Cloud Gaming.","og_url":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=375","og_site_name":"Long Haul Moving Pros","article_published_time":"2026-06-12T16:12:25+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=375#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=375"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9c8f732aec56889e8fd0602fe5af4b"},"headline":"Xbox CEO Is Preparing Gamers for When Hardware Is a Luxury","datePublished":"2026-06-12T16:12:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=375"},"wordCount":743,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=375#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/c8ca2ff27b83b568d5a82462b2f21958.webp","articleSection":["Gadgets"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=375#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=375","url":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=375","name":"Xbox CEO Is Preparing Gamers for When Hardware Is a Luxury - Long Haul Moving Pros","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=375#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=375#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/c8ca2ff27b83b568d5a82462b2f21958.webp","datePublished":"2026-06-12T16:12:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9c8f732aec56889e8fd0602fe5af4b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=375#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=375"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=375#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/c8ca2ff27b83b568d5a82462b2f21958.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/c8ca2ff27b83b568d5a82462b2f21958.webp","width":1200,"height":675},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=375#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Xbox CEO Is Preparing Gamers for When Hardware Is a Luxury"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/","name":"Long Haul Moving Pros","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9c8f732aec56889e8fd0602fe5af4b","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com"],"url":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}