Gamerinformer Price Increase

Microsoft is increasing subscription fees for its Xbox Live subscriptions in six countries including South Africa. Xbox Live is Microsoft’s internet gaming and video entertainment service.

Gaming news website, Gamerinformer.com revealed that the monthly price of Xbox Live Gold subscription is set to increase from R50 to R159 as of June 20. The Xbox South African support page claims that, “we will be letting members coming up to renewal know about the changes ahead of time so they can choose to continue the subscription or turn off auto-renewal.”

The company further states, “however, if you’d like to cancel your subscription that just renewed to the higher price, contact support and we can offer you a refund.” According to Gamerinformer.com, other countries set for Xbox price increases are Austria, Hungary, Israel, Sweden, and Turkey.

According to Gamerinformer.com. Microsoft's move to increase Xbox Live prices in South Africa comes with the rand’s depreciation over the last year. On May 18 2015, the rand was trading around R11.87 to the US dollar. Meanwhile, the rand on Tuesday was trading around R15.60 to the US dollar.

A Microsoft representative told Gamerinformer.com that the company "occasionally update pricing in a given market to provide a balance of service and value, and in some instances, meet currency fluctuations within the region.”