Microsoft's worst kept secret--the Xbox Series S--has finally gotten its long-awaited reveal. Following a multitude of leaks, most recently one involving a release date and price, Microsoft has stepped in to confirm that yes, there will be a next-generation Xbox that is less powerful than the Xbox Series X, while still offering strong performance and value. Though we still don't know the price for the Xbox Series X, the smaller and freshly announced Xbox Series S will retail for $299.99/£249.99, with more detailed information coming soon. We also get the tagline "next-gen performance in the smallest Xbox ever".

The previous leaks indicated that by contrast, the Xbox Series X is planned to be priced at $499, with both systems releasing on November 10th, though this information is currently unconfirmed and is being reported as an "insider tip" by Windows Central.

Source

 

[The Frenchman]

Once again Microsoft prove that Xbox Series X is a second thought for them. They only want everyone to be on gamepass, pushing the industry and the ganes? Nah give us $12,99 a month we'll be happy!

 

[sarkwalvein]

Once again Microsoft prove that Xbox Series X is a second thought for them. They only want everyone to be on gamepass, pushing the industry and the ganes? Nah give us $12,99 a month we'll be happy!

Sounds like a good deal.

 

[the_randomizer]

Once again Microsoft prove that Xbox Series X is a second thought for them. They only want everyone to be on gamepass, pushing the industry and the ganes? Nah give us $12,99 a month we'll be happy!

I'd rather do that on my PC than on a watered down Microsoft device

 

[playsaves3]

Decent pricing though.
Prepare for Sony to come out with theirs now soon as well.

sony will kill them if the de ps5 is 350 and disc is 450 but then will slaughter if the ps5 digital is 299

 

[sarkwalvein]

sony will kill them if the de ps5 is 350 and disc is 450 but then will slaughter if the ps5 digital is 299

I would love those optimistic prices, 450 is good enough.
I hope they announce them already.

 

[Foxi4]

Its fucking stupid to even plan on releasing multiple versions with different hardware.

So you end up paying more for the high end model, but its games wont take full advantage as itll have to support these recycled inferior consoles.

Im glad i wont be investing in anymore shitboxes.

The Xbox infrastructure was designed for this via Smart Delivery. You're always playing the version of the game designed to take full advantage of your hardware, regardless of what kind of disc you shove into the system. If modern engines are so scalable that you can play the exact same Doom or Outer Worlds on the lowly Switch and the mighty Xbox One X, although admittedly at different levels of detail and framerate, then I suspect there will be no issue whatsoever here.

Once again Microsoft prove that Xbox Series X is a second thought for them. They only want everyone to be on gamepass, pushing the industry and the ganes? Nah give us $12,99 a month we'll be happy!

Gamepass is the best thing that happened to digital distribution since Steam and one of the only reasons why my Xbox gets any use. It's tremendous value *if* you're interested in the games that are on the service. Is it a bad trend? Sure. Is it buckets of fun for pennies? Also yes.

sony will kill them if the de ps5 is 350 and disc is 450 but then will slaughter if the ps5 digital is 299

You can get that +/- $350 out of your head, the difference between the disc and discless system will be at most $50, much like it was the case with the Xbox One S vs. the Xbox One S All-Digital, disc drives are not that expensive. It's also very likely that the full-blown PS5 will reach the $499 threshold, so you're looking at a $450 all-digital unless Sony chooses to bite the bullet in order to remain competitive.

 

[Pipistrele]

Once again Microsoft prove that Xbox Series X is a second thought for them. They only want everyone to be on gamepass, pushing the industry and the ganes? Nah give us $12,99 a month we'll be happy!

Proper gaming subscriptions and available hardware are quite industry-pushing things - while availability of most other media improved drastically over the years (music especially), games are still expensive as heck and have a lot of BS getting in the way of playing them. Graphical fidelity is already reaching the ceiling at this rate, so it's about time indistry scales back on "cool-n-pretty" for a while and invents ways for more people to actually play their stuff.

 

[Silent_Gunner]

Proper gaming subscriptions and available hardware are quite industry-pushing things - while availability of most other media improved drastically over the years (music especially), games are still expensive as heck and have a lot of BS getting in the way of playing them. Graphical fidelity is already reaching the ceiling at this rate, so it's about time indistry scales back on "cool-n-pretty" for a while and invents ways for more people to actually play their stuff.

It makes one wonder how this is gonna potentially influence game design going forward though; how much does a company make by putting their games on Game Pass? Because if it isn't much, all I can see are more MTX-based flings in the future, and game design compelling you to be dependent upon them *coughs in MK11*.

 

[scroeffie1984]

gamepass good but also bad because if the game you downloaded is removed from the store you wont be able to play it anymore even if its on your hdd !! also the specs mean nothing on paper the ps3 is stronger than the 360 the wiiu is weaker than the switch so

 

[Pipistrele]

It makes one wonder how this is gonna potentially influence game design going forward though; how much does a company make by putting their games on Game Pass? Because if it isn't much, all I can see are more MTX-based flings in the future, and game design compelling you to be dependent upon them *coughs in MK11*.

It's a double-edged sword for sure. On one side, you get increased audience that's also more willing to pick up games they wouldn't otherwise, but on the other it's less potential for direct monetization. With indie/AA games, I can see it going the EGS route - various competing publishers with their services buying games from devs and compensating their effort in advance to make library more appealing for potential subscribers. With AAA(A?) ones, they'll most likely just go full live service mode, to earn dosh both on subscriptions and MTX. Some non-subscription titles will remain as a niche option, kinda like it is with Bandcamp right now. That's how I see things rolling if industry decides to adopt subscriptions as primary model.

 

[yoyoyo69]

Games are going to be even larger this gen (big enough as it is).

The new "memory cards" they have for storage are likely to be extremely expensive too.

I'm hoping for backwards compatibility at least for Xbox One hard drive via USB 3, so I don't have to get another drive and re-download.

But still be problematic with next gen games.

 

[Codemastershock]

Games are going to be even larger this gen (big enough as it is).

The new "memory cards" they have for storage are likely to be extremely expensive too.

I'm hoping for backwards compatibility at least for Xbox One hard drive via USB 3, so I don't have to get another drive and re-download.

But still be problematic with next gen games.

MSFT did mention in one video that a mechanical hard drive can be used for Xbox One games, Series games have to run on SSD, they can be moved to a USB 3.0 storage only for backup, the system can't run series games directly from them. Mentioning how the operating system is the exact same, I strongly think it will be like the Xbox One currently does: you can use an external hard drive in any Xbox machine (unlike the Wii U or Switch, for example, which the external device is encrypted to a specific console and couldn't be used in any other Wii U and Switch console without formatting the storage and losing data), but if you are not on your default console, like when you want to play a game you purchased digitally on a friend's home, you need to log in with your Live account to prove that you purchased the game. When you want to upgrade your machine, simply log on your new machine, connect the external hard drive and set this as your new home console on the personalization settings and done.

 

[Bladexdsl]

your move sony

 

[D34DL1N3R]

well.. if I buy a console next gen at all, guess it'll probably be the series x. cheap is king, baby!

Except cheap is not king. Xbox has not won a console generation to date.

 

[playsaves3]

The Xbox infrastructure was designed for this via Smart Delivery. You're always playing the version of the game designed to take full advantage of your hardware, regardless of what kind of disc you shove into the system. If modern engines are so scalable that you can play the exact same Doom or Outer Worlds on the lowly Switch and the mighty Xbox One X, although admittedly at different levels of detail and framerate, then I suspect there will be no issue whatsoever here.
Gamepass is the best thing that happened to digital distribution since Steam and one of the only reasons why my Xbox gets any use. It's tremendous value *if* you're interested in the games that are on the service. Is it a bad trend? Sure. Is it buckets of fun for pennies? Also yes.
You can get that +/- $350 out of your head, the difference between the disc and discless system will be at most $50, much like it was the case with the Xbox One S vs. the Xbox One S All-Digital, disc drives are not that expensive. It's also very likely that the full-blown PS5 will reach the $499 threshold, so you're looking at a $450 all-digital unless Sony chooses to bite the bullet in order to remain competitive.

honestly wont be shcoked if physical ps5 is 450 to undercut microsoft

 

[yoyoyo69]

MSFT did mention in one video that a mechanical hard drive can be used for Xbox One games, Series games have to run on SSD, they can be moved to a USB 3.0 storage only for backup, the system can't run series games directly from them. Mentioning how the operating system is the exact same, I strongly think it will be like the Xbox One currently does: you can use an external hard drive in any Xbox machine (unlike the Wii U or Switch, for example, which the external device is encrypted to a specific console and couldn't be used in any other Wii U and Switch console without formatting the storage and losing data), but if you are not on your default console, like when you want to play a game you purchased digitally on a friend's home, you need to log in with your Live account to prove that you purchased the game. When you want to upgrade your machine, simply log on your new machine, connect the external hard drive and set this as your new home console on the personalization settings and done.

Yeah, they said this a little while back.

Series games/ new gen - must be installed to an SSD (or new "memory cards" / removable SSD)

Xbox One and other backwards compatible games can be ran from an external drive via USB 3. I hope it isn't a new drive formatted in a new format again.

Ideally I'd like plug and play of my existing Xbox One hard drive.

 

[Goku1992A]

They should have included the disk drive because the Series-S may be backwards compatible but without the disk drive it's going to be a bit difficult. Just like with the PS5 diskless version it is just a waste of time making. They should have just priced the Series-S with disk at $400 we are not at the point yet we cant go 100% full diskless.

 

[playsaves3]

They should have included the disk drive because the Series-S may be backwards compatible but without the disk drive it's going to be a bit difficult. Just like with the PS5 diskless version it is just a waste of time making. They should have just priced the Series-S with disk at $400 we are not at the point yet we cant go 100% full diskless.

it not having a drive is the biggest reason i believed the 199 rumors oh well 299 is to much for this

 

[Goku1992A]

it not having a drive is the biggest reason i believed the 199 rumors oh well 299 is to much for this

The Xbox One S digital edition didn't sell too good so Idk why they would think the Series-S digital edition would be even better

 

[Deleted User]

Will my laptop hold up against next gen (without ray tracing which may become a requirement eventually) or not even close? I don't care about maxing out the resolution that much I'm someone who can play games in 1080p and I'd be fine. I'm sure this digital only model even is more powerful.

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-9300H CPU @ 2.40GHz, (can go up to 4.1GHz), 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)
Nvidia GTEForce GTX 1650 16 GB Ram