The Translucent Green Xbox Series X25 Will Be the Most Expensive Console Microsoft Has Ever Sold

The Xbox Series X25 is the best-looking console Microsoft has made in years. Translucent OG Green shell, green-lit power button, a straight callback to the 2001 Xbox that started all of this. When it was revealed at June's Xbox Games Showcase, the reaction was close to universally warm.

Then the price leaked. If the numbers hold, the 25th anniversary Xbox will be the most expensive home console Microsoft has ever sold, and it is not faster than the one below it.

What leaked

The leaker billbil-kun, posting through Dealabs, put the Series X25 at €899.99 in Europe with a November 27 release date. That is Black Friday.

One thing worth being precise about, since most coverage has blurred it: the €899.99 figure is what leaked. The $899.99 US price everyone is quoting is Dealabs' estimate, based on Xbox pricing the two currencies at parity elsewhere in the lineup. It is a reasonable inference and billbil-kun has a strong track record, but Microsoft has confirmed neither the price nor the date. Official word is expected at Gamescom.

The matching Xbox Wireless Controller X25 Special Edition is a separate story, reportedly landing October 20 at $79.99. It comes bundled with the console, and you can buy it standalone.

The math is uncomfortable

The standard 1TB Series X with a disc drive currently sits at $799.99, which is itself the product of a recent hike from $649.99. That $150 jump was already unpopular. The X25 adds another $100 on top for a shell.

Inside, it is the same console. Same 1TB SSD, same disc drive, same silicon. You are paying a hundred dollars for green plastic, an illuminated X, and 25th anniversary branding.

The comparison that stings is the PS5 Pro, which also lands at $899.99 and is a substantially more powerful machine with 2TB of storage, though it drops the disc drive. Microsoft is asking the same money for a six-year-old console in a nicer case.

Why people will buy it anyway

Here is the thing. It will probably sell out.

Translucent hardware occupies a specific place in a certain generation's memory, back when a console could look like a toy and nobody thought that was a problem. The X25's appeal has nothing to do with frame rates. The controller does the nostalgia work even better than the console: the classic four-color face buttons are back, the LB and RB bumpers are finished in black and white as a nod to the original Duke, and the transparent back casing has an embossed original Xbox logo underneath.

That controller, at $79.99, is the value pick here by a wide margin. Same shell, same anniversary detailing, a fraction of the cost, and it works with the Xbox you already own.

If you want the console, plan around it. Limited edition plus Black Friday plus no announced preorder date is exactly the combination that ends with scalper listings. Watch for the preorder window rather than the launch date, because the launch date will not matter.