Microsoft Was Forced to Blink

The biggest news by far in the video game world last week involved Microsoft finally revealing the Xbox Series S iteration of their next-generation console, and providing prices for the Series S and previously-announced Xbox Series X. The Series S will be an all-digital version of the console with slightly less power that will be marketed to a more price-conscious audience, compared to the super powerful kit the Series X will be. It’s also a cute little platform in terms of design, the “smallest Xbox ever” according to the company’s marketing.

The Series S will retail for a cool $299, making it one of the cheapest non-Nintendo launch consoles in recent memory. The Series X will go for the widely-predicted $499, the same price the original Xbox One launched with and what the Xbox One X went for before its production was ended, along with the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition, by Microsoft nearly two months ago. The price for the Series X will be easier to stomach with the Series S being released alongside it on November 10th, the latter being in the “affordable” range for launch buyers and anyone looking for a system during the holiday season — if they’ll be able to find it.

Wait, I’m leaving out a key part of this story. It’s less that Microsoft was first to blink in announcing the Series S and console prices this week, but more that they were forced to. Xbox Head of Studios Phil Spencer even admitted via Tweet that they hadn’t planned on formally revealing the system and prices until sometime next week.

The Series S was already established one of the worst-kept secrets in gaming history before this, with its existence being leaked by insiders and later controller packaging. But the secret was fully out when an image of the system was posted by Brad Sams on Thurrott, complete with the price tag. Microsoft had no choice but to confirm it shortly after 3:00 AM ET early Tuesday. The system was officially officially revealed with a trailer on Tuesday (linked above), and confirmation of both prices. The press also has both systems and has given impressions, though they haven’t been able to hook them up yet. The comparisons show how Microsoft really isn’t kidding about this being their smallest Xbox; it’s even half the size of the original PS4.

The briefing originally planned has since leaked in its entirety, which, fair warning, is light on excitement. There’s a good chance Microsoft is fuming at the leaks, but maybe they should be a little glad they happened.

A $299 next-gen launch console feels too good to be true, but the Series S includes several concessions compared to the Series X to justify costing $200 less. In addition to the lack of a disc drive, it will have a slightly less powerful CPU, a considerably less powerful GPU, less memory, and about half the starting internal storage with a 512 GB solid-state drive. It will also play the Xbox One S versions of current-gen games as opposed to the enhanced Xbox One X versions, despite the system comparing favorably to the latter. A lot is being sacrificed for the price, but it’s still a good value. Don’t be surprised if that hard drive fills up fast, which will lead to owners buying the bound-to-be-expensive proprietary memory expansions.

There’s no denying that a comparatively inexpensive choice will be good for Microsoft, but there are two issues here. One will be how developers handle the added task of programming their games to work efficiently on two consoles with differing power sets instead of one. Yes, they already have to do this for PC games, but it could still amount to added work for already-overworked teams.

The second will be potential confusion. It’s easy for someone like me to tell the difference between the Xbox One S, Xbox Series S, and Xbox Series X. (Though I still had to double-check this post to see if I mistyped any system names, which I did.) But how will the average person who doesn’t consume an unhealthy amount of gaming news in a day react? It’s, at the very least, good that the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition and Xbox One X have ceased production to prevent further confusion, but a fun time is in store for workers and customer service representatives this fall.

Another big question is how Sony will compete. There will be two PlayStation 5 variants, between the “normal” one and an all-digital edition, but both will have the same power sets. The digital one will be cheaper, but unlikely to be as cheap as the Series S. Given how PS5 interest has consistently outperformed interest in the new Xbox consoles, Sony will likely be fine. The PS5 prices might be announced at the next showcase on Wednesday, September 16th at 4PM ET. They have to announce those prices sometime soon, right? You’d think.

Expect all these consoles to sell out quickly following their launches. Demand will be one reason for that, but console allocation may not be high thanks to manufacturing sectors being hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic. This also means scalpers will have a wild and crazy time. Perhaps the better idea would be to simply skip purchasing one until later.

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