Gamers from all around the world seem to be more excited than ever with the announcement of the new Xbox Series S and X consoles. Microsoft seems to be taking a whole new approach to the new generation with not just one, but two next-gen consoles. Plus, the company is bringing new features and services to the industry to make both their games and consoles available for everybody.
Of course, we haven’t even talked about the immense increase in performance and user experience in Xbox Series S and X, which are incredible as expected. From the new games to the consoles’ specs, here is everything you need to know about the next-gen Xbox consoles.
Xbox Series X and Series S: Price, Release Date, and Availability
The new Xbox release date is set to be November 10th as both Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S will be released simultaneously. Both have been available for pre-order since September 22. The new Xbox price will also differ depending on which console you get: Xbox Series X will cost $499, making it the second $499 Xbox since the Xbox One X release date, while Xbox Series S will cost $299.
On top of these standard retail releases, Microsoft has also announced Xbox All Access bundle, which includes a brand-new Xbox Series X or Series S plus 24 months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership. For Series X, the price will be $34.99 for 24 months while for the Series S it will cost $24.99 for 24 months. This year, 12 countries will have access to the Xbox All Access deal, which are: the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, France, New Zealand, Poland, and South Korea.
Xbox Series X vs Series S: Comparison
| Xbox Series X | Xbox Series S | |
| GPU | AMD RDNA 2 GPU, 52 CUs, 12 TFLOPS | AMD RDNA 2 GPU, 20 CUs, 4 TFLOPS |
| CPU | Custom 8-Core Zen 2 CPU @ 3.8 GHz | Custom 8-Core Zen 2 CPU @ 3.6 GHz |
| Resolution | 4K at 60 FPS, up to 120 FPS | 1440p at 60 FPS, up to 120 FPS |
| Disc Drive | 4K Blu-ray | Digital only |
| RAM | 16 GB GDDR6 | 10GB GDDR6 |
| Storage | 1 TB PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD | 512 GB PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD |
| External Storage | 1 TB expansion card | 1 TB expansion card |
| Display Out | HDMI 2.1 | HDMI 2.1 |
| Dimensions | 5.94 x 5.94 x 11.85 inches (151 x 151 x 301 mm) | 5.9 x 2.6 x 11 inches (151 x 65 x 275 mm) |
| Weight | 9.8 pounds (4.45 kilograms) | 4.25 pounds (1.93 kg) |
| Price | $499 | $299 |
Xbox Series X and Series S: Controller
So far, we have only talked about the case of the Xbox Series X and Series S, but another crucial part of the new consoles is the new Xbox controller. While it mostly depends on personal preference, Xbox controllers have always been famous for being comfortable and easy to use. Looking at it, the new Xbox gaming pad seems to be mostly the same as its predecessor, but there are a few minor changes to make it more responsive and comfortable.
First, the new D-pad seems to a hybrid of the Xbox 360 and Xbox One controller, with the combination of a faceted dish and a good old 4-directional cross. Plus, there is now a little pit on the center of the D-pad to rest your thumb, and the D-pad feels more responsive in general.
Trigger and bumper buttons are textured and appear to be a bit shorter for better control. It will use USB-C for charging. There is also a new share button in the center of the gamepad.
If you own an Xbox One, we have even better news: Microsoft recently announced that all official Xbox One controllers will be compatible with the Xbox Series X and Series S controllers, so you won’t have to buy any additional ones.
Xbox Series X and Series S: Games
Similar to any other major console release, Xbox Series X and Series S will come out with dozens of playable games right out the gate. Almost every major game announced this year will be available on the Xbox new releases while every game playable on Xbox One will be backwards compatible with the new consoles, except Kinect titles.
Microsoft owns many game studios that are working on games for the next-gen Series X and S consoles. In July, Microsoft showed more than a dozen games that are in development for the new consoles, such as Halo: Infinite, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, Fable, and Psychonauts 2.
But as we stated before, Microsoft is taking an entirely different road this generation. Instead of relying on console-exclusive games to sell more consoles, Microsoft is aiming to target as many players as possible by making all future Xbox titles available on PC. All Microsoft-published games will be available on Xbox Game Pass as well, which has been expanding massively for the last couple of months.
This means that Xbox Series X and Series S owners will be able to access more than a hundred of both old and new titles, including the best Xbox One S games, with just a Game Pass subscription. This provides massive value to both Xbox and PC owners and decreases the Xbox prices games. Players have already taken a huge liking to this subscription system as Microsoft revealed that the Xbox Game Pass has recently passed 15 million subscribers.
Xbox Series X and Series S: How Backwards Compatibility Works
Backwards compatibility was a big success on Xbox One, and Microsoft is taking it a whole step further in the next generation. The new Xbox Series X and S will be backwards compatible with all previous Xbox consoles, including Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
When you log into your Microsoft account on Xbox Series S or X, your digitally-owned Xbox Store games will automatically be claimed on the new consoles. If you own discs, just putting the disc in will let you download the games.
Head of Xbox Phil Spencer also confirmed that every Xbox One game that doesn’t require a Kinect will be compatible with the new consoles. For Xbox and Xbox 360, this won’t be possible, though more than 600 games will still be compatible. If you want to check the full list, you can head to Xbox’ Backward Compatible Game Library.
Xbox Series X and Series S: Should You Upgrade from Xbox One?
While the new Xbox consoles seem appealing and accessible from every front, those of you that already own an Xbox One will be understandably wondering about whether you should upgrade or not. Since Microsoft isn’t forcing players to the new generation as hard as Sony, this is a difficult question to answer, so it largely depends on what you are looking for.
If you own an Xbox One and are looking for higher resolutions and better framerate, Series S and X are exactly what you are looking for. Series S and X will feature 1440p and 4K resolutions at 60 FPS respectively, with the potential of going up to 120 FPS on certain games. This means that on top of significantly better graphics, your games will look much sharper and feel much more responsive. Thanks to new SSD storage, your games will load much faster too.
To catch up with the exclusives, though, you don’t need to jump on the bandwagon of Series X and S right after the new Xbox release date. Phil Spencer said that they will keep supporting Xbox One in the next couple of years and every Xbox Game Studios game will also come to Xbox One in this period. But you may also miss games from other publishers as they may not release future titles to Xbox One moving forward.
Xbox Series X and Series S: Streaming Games
On top of a quickly expanding library of more than 100 games, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate also offers a cloud gaming service in 22 countries, which are: the US, the UK, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Austria, Belgium, Czechia, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, and Switzerland.
This service lets you connect to a server and play any game under Game Pass Ultimate on your compatible Android phone. This means you need a fast internet connection to not be interrupted with input lag. If you don’t like it, you can also try local game streaming given that you have an Xbox Series X, Series S, or Xbox One.
With all these player-friendly features on the way, it is hard not to get excited. This will likely be the most value we get from a console since Xbox 360 release date and Xbox One S release date. If you already decided to jump on the next-gen as soon as possible with Xbox Series X or Series S, deciding which one to go with can be difficult, and will depend on your budget, your current console, and the monitor you own.
First of all, if your budget only allows for Series S, it will naturally be your choice as it has a lower Xbox price. For example, if you have a 4K monitor/TV, it makes much more sense to get an Xbox Series X to fully utilize its 4K capabilities. On the other hand, if you have a 1440p monitor with a high refresh rate, getting a Series S console also makes more sense.
For those that already own an Xbox One X, upgrading to Xbox Series S won’t be a huge upgrade, so getting a Series X will make a more noticeable difference. Since Series S doesn’t have a disc drive and works with digital games only, if you own a lot of Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One games in discs, getting a Series X will be a better choice. You will be able to put in the discs and download the backwards compatible versions of your games instantly.
Whatever your decision is, it seems like it will be worth it. Microsoft’s plans are placing players’ experience in the center while Sony is doing the same thing they have been doing since the PS3 and PS4 release date, which is relying on exclusive games for selling the console.
Even though Xbox is not as famous for its exclusives as Sony, they seem to be stepping up their game in other areas. 2 next-gen consoles, the huge Xbox Game Pass library, brand-new cloud and local streaming services, and amazing backwards compatibility support will be in service of the players in the next generation of gaming, and we will all see how it plays out together.
