Xbox has been talking quite a bit about how expensive things are getting.
In recent posts to staff, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma discussed how the division will offer a “minimum” liability margin of 3%. to Microsoft this year, as users reduce their spending and the memory crisis deepens. Microsoft reported that wholesale memory prices increased sevenfold over the past year, pushing Xbox hardware sales into negative profitability territory.
Xbox has been hinting at ads as a way to close the gap and potentially reduce costs even further, and has already reduced the cost of Xbox Game Pass to help users meet their budgets are. The new code hints at another lever they may also be preparing to pull.
The Xbox website will have a “Buy now, pay later” feature via Paypal and Klarna pic.twitter.com/ZdVnKOtOFiJune 15, 2026
Fintech companies PayPal and Klarna are apparently preparing to offer their “BNPL” services in the coming weeks. BNPL is short for “Buy Now, Pay Later”. Code snippets suggest that Klarna and PayPal will offer Xbox users ways to spread the costs over weeks or even months, interest-free.
Given how expensive consoles have become recently (for both Microsoft and customers), spreading the cost could be a smart way to improve access. Games have also become quite expensive at $70, and game makers’ costs have also risen, as inflation hits and supply chains come under strain.
The gaming industry hasn’t seen real user growth in a long time, and that’s particularly true in the mainstream industry where Xbox is typically found. Microsoft is exploring a variety of measures and levers to improve its finances, with strong rumors of layoffs circulating at the time of writing. Compulsion, creator of We Happy Few and South of Midnight, is reportedly being eyed for closure, joining shuttered studios such as Arkane Austin, Tango and The Initiative last year. Xbox Games Studios leader Craig Duncan also just left the company …potentially in protest of this impending wave of closures.
It remains to be seen whether the PayPal and Klarna integrations will move the needle for Xbox’s balance sheet, but right now it’s a tough time for all of consumer tech, both inside and outside the industry.
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