Microsoft has confirmed that the price of Xbox games is to increase after Christmas.

The company behind the multi-million selling games console will increase the price of its top-tier Xbox games to $70 (£58) from January 2023, which is thought to put an individual game at a cost of £70 but has assured fans that this "reflective" change will not take place until after the holiday season has finished, adding that their in-house titles will become available on their cloud service on initial launch day.

In a statement, Microsoft said: "We’ve held on price increases until after the holidays so families can enjoy the gift of gaming. This price reflects the content, scale, and technical complexity of these titles. As with all games developed by our teams at Xbox, they will also be available with Game Pass the same day they launch.

Earlier this year, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer speculated that fans of the gaming console could see a price increase even though it had been "really important" to maintain prices for as long as possible.

He said: "I do think that at some point, we'll have to raise some prices on certain things, but going into this holiday, we thought it was really important to maintain the prices that we have because consumers, right now, are more uncertain than they have been in a long time."