Microsoft hikes prices on enterprise software after currency collapse

UK businesses, including game developers, looking to pick up enterprise software or cloud services from Microsoft could be about to get stung, after it quietly announced a revision to prices for IT professionals on Friday, to its UK Technet blog.

You can read the blog post here, but the main reason behind the price hikes is Brexit, mostly, with the cataclysmic political event causing the pound to take a tumble in value. Microsoft says it’s revising the pricing in pound sterling to make sure "there is reasonable alignment across the region". The currency has already tumbled, with the pound estimated to plunge to just $1.10 by the end of 2017.

It’s quite a steep hike in price, with TechCrunch doing the maths and estimating that on-premise enterprise software will increase by 13 per cent, while "most" cloud software prices will have a 22% increase.

It’s important to note that Microsoft doesn’t mention Brexit specifically as a cause, but regardless, the tumbling currency is a direct result of June’s referendum. It’s bad news for businesses, but currently Microsoft haven’t mentioned a change in pricing to its consumer software or cloud offerings.

"This pricing change will not apply to consumer software or consumer cloud services,” Microsoft added.

It’s neither the first nor the last re-pricing to follow Brexit. HTC bumped the price of the Vive by £70 in August and while not strictly tech related, Unilever and Nestle have both warned of future price hikes.