With console prices rising, component costs climbing and Xbox openly admitting that the traditional hardware model is becoming harder to sustain, Microsoft appears to be looking for new ways to make buying into its ecosystem feel a little less painful.
The latest sign of that may have been spotted hiding in plain sight. Code found on Xbox’s own website by @redphx suggests Microsoft is preparing to add Buy Now, Pay Later options, potentially giving customers a way to spread the cost of consoles, accessories or games rather than paying everything upfront. PayPal and Klarna were both spotted.
Exactly how this will be implemented isn’t clear yet, but the language found in the code appears to describe a checkout-level payment option rather than a dedicated console financing programme. If that’s the case, the feature could potentially apply to everything sold through Xbox’s storefront, including digital games, DLC, subscriptions and hardware.
It’s a slippery slope. Buy Now, Pay Later schemes can be useful when used responsibly, allowing people to spread the cost of a major purchase without paying interest. But they have also attracted criticism for encouraging impulse spending, especially among younger consumers, by making purchases feel cheaper than they really are.
In fact, it’s a slippery slope I’ve slipped my way down before. If you’re smart with money and understand credit, it can be a useful tool. Unfortunately, many of us aren’t that smart — especially when we’re younger — and can find ourselves in trouble. Be careful, friends.
Microsoft would not be alone here. PlayStation already offers Klarna financing through PlayStation Direct in the US, while PlayStation UK has experimented with a separate Flex leasing scheme for PS5 hardware. In other words, Xbox adding Buy Now, Pay Later options would be less a wild new idea and more Microsoft catching up with a wider industry push to soften the upfront cost of gaming hardware.
This might also herald the return of Xbox All Access, Microsoft’s financing programme that allowed customers to pay for a console over monthly instalments while bundling in Game Pass. The programme quietly faded away in recent years, but the appearance of Klarna and PayPal financing options suggests Microsoft may once again be exploring ways to reduce the upfront cost of joining the Xbox ecosystem.
If Xbox decides to extend these payment options to digital games as well, that could prove more controversial. While rivals such as PlayStation, Nintendo and Steam support standard payment methods, dedicated Buy Now, Pay Later options are generally focused on hardware purchases rather than digital game storefronts.
WGB 