Bad news for fellow console gamers: Microsoft is raising the price of its Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscriptions starting next month; the PC side is brighter: the PC Game Pass price will remain at $9.99 (£7.99). And it's not just Game Pass that Microsoft will raise its fees: the price of the Series X consoles will be raised in most countries where they are sold.

"We have maintained the prices of our consoles for many years, but have adjusted them to reflect the competitive landscape in each market," Kari Perez, Xbox's global communications lead, told The Verge.

The price increase will raise the basic Game Pass subscription from $9.99 (£7.99) to $10.99 (£8.99) per month in the US and UK, and Game Pass Ultimate to $16.99 (£12.99). Fortunately, the $9.99 (£7.99) pricing for PC players will remain the same.

The Verge has a complete breakdown of how game pass prices will increase by country. Norway, for example, is exempt from the base game pass price increase, but will have to pay more for Ultimate.

PC games are rarely cheaper than the console market (Steam's thrift sales notwithstanding), given that superior rigs can put a squeeze on your bank balance; as PC Gamer's Tyler Wilde noted last month, Microsoft's major game pass draws frustration remains.

One has to wonder if that's part of the reason prices haven't gone up on the PC. As Tyler observed, the PC Game Pass won't be much of a draw until Starfield's debut on September 6; Exoprimal is on July 14, and while I'm personally very excited to slay the dinosaurs, other than that, there's not much to pick from.