According to Alanah Pearce of Kinda Funny XCast, Microsoft's Xbox Series X could be priced at $599, higher than the PS5.

A retailer source told Pearce that the Xbox Series X will cost close to $600, which is surprising since previous rumors suggested that Microsoft's next-generation console could cost around $400. As noted near the 41-minute mark of the video below, the source sent a message with a picture of a working screen with the Xbox Series X price on it.

This is definitely pretty convincing evidence that the Xbox Series X could indeed be more expensive than first thought. However, it is also possible that this price is simply a holdover price for the Xbox Series X, as Microsoft has not announced any official pricing.

However, it is also a bit late in the game console's life to hold the price as it will be released in November. Retailers will want to decide how much to stock up on this console based on how expensive it is and how well it is likely to sell at the recommended retail price.

While the PS5 is said to be $500, the Xbox Series X was rumored to be $100 below that. Such a price cut indicates that Microsoft wants to bring people into the Xbox ecosystem and may be willing to take a loss on console hardware.

Logically, however, the Xbox Series X is a more expensive console because it offers 12 teraflops of power compared to the PS5's 10.28 teraflops. In other words, paying about $100 more for the Xbox Series X than for the PS5 makes sense given the power difference. [This is because of the Xbox ecosystem they plan to build, including Xbox Game Pass, xCloud game streaming, cross-generational gaming, and Windows 10 PCs. So even if the Xbox Series X costs nearly $600 and people decide not to buy it at launch and buy a PS5 instead, Microsoft still has plenty of ways to bring in gamers.

If this seems like a bold move by Microsoft, it is worth remembering that, as The Verge reported in April, Xbox Game Pass currently has 10 million subscribers; Game Pass costs between $4.99 and $14.99 per month, Microsoft essentially already earns about $100 million per month from this service. So if the next generation of Xbox games offered for the first two years on the Xbox One increase the number of people who sign up for Xbox Game Pass without having to buy an Xbox Series X, Microsoft will still make millions and tens of millions of dollars.

Of course, we will have to wait and see how the new consoles, which will be released in November, fare. But it seems unlikely that either side will really lose in this next-generation game console war.