Microsoft has significantly increased the PC game prices of its first-party Xbox Studios titles in India. The change was spotted by users in X (formerly known as Twitter) as the price for Halo: The Master Chief Collection was increased by a whopping 272%, going from Rs. 899 to Rs. 3,349. The change was made at the end of October and is not limited to this particular game, as Microsoft has also updated the prices for Halo Infinite from Rs. 3,499 to Rs. 4,999, an increase of 42%.
hello isn’t the only franchise affected by this, as a cursory look at SteamDB shows similar price increases for recent Call of Duty games after Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision-Blizzard. Prices for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019), Vanguard, and Black Ops: Cold War were all increased from Rs. 3,999 to Rs. 4,997. If those seem exorbitant, the recently released ones Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is available on Steam for Rs. 5,599, and that’s just for the standard edition.
Xbox
Regional price increases are not a new development for Indian PC gamers, and Microsoft is not the only publisher engaged in the practice. Sony has increased the price Horizon: Zero Dawn by 200% when it was upgraded from Rs. 1,099 to Rs. 3,299, while high-profile titles like Metro Exodus and New World it also saw post-launch price increases.
For reference, Steam’s regional pricing guidelines indicate that the following prices will be enforced when converting from US store listings:
- $29.99 – Rs. 1,300
- $39.99 – Rs. 1,600
- $49.99 – Rs. 2,000
- $59.99 – Rs. 2,400
- $69.99 – Rs. 2,800
Call of duty
While the update doesn’t spell doom for PC gamers in the country, it does point to a frustrating pattern. Fortunately, Microsoft has, for the most part, supported regional pricing guidelines for its legacy titles. While Bethesda’s biggest release of the year, Starfield it was an exorbitant price, other titles from the publisher like it Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo they did well following the pricing advice. It remains to be seen if Microsoft will repeat this model with the rest of its Xbox Studios titles, but, for now, those games are safe from the price increase.
Microsoft
Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Halo Infinite are available on PC from Steam and Xbox Game Pass. tea Call of Duty The franchise is available for purchase from Battle.net and Steam for PC, while games from the franchise are expected to arrive on Xbox Game Pass soon.