Of the four console rollouts I’ve seen in my lifetime, this has definitely been one of the strangest, second only to those weird-ass PS3 launch commercials. We’re two months away from the release of new consoles and aren’t entirely sure how much we’re expected to pay for them. Luckily, both a leak and an official reveal have given us some idea of how much it will cost to play on the next generation of Xbox.
The Verge reports that the Xbox Series S, the long-rumored budget version of Microsoft’s next-generation console, will launch alongside the Xbox Series X in November and cost $299. The information comes following a series of leaks that revealed the existence of the budget console. Xbox’s initial response to the leak on Sunday evening was pretty good, I must admit.
According to a leaked commercial, the Xbox Series S will be an all-digital console, capable of DirectX ray tracing and running games in 1440p at up to 120 frames per second. The console will also be capable of 4K video playback, upscaling older games to 4K, and comes with a built-in 512 GB solid-state drive.
That’s pretty impressive performance considering the price point, with the only drawback here being the relatively small SSD. I’m currently running a terabyte on both my Xbox One S and PS4 Pro, but I still find myself having to clear space regularly due to how large game downloads have gotten.
In contrast to the boxier Series X, the design of the Series S is evocative of the all-digital Xbox One S. It’s being touted as the smallest Xbox ever, about 60 percent smaller than the larger, more powerful Xbox Series X. The internet wasted no time reacting to both the design and price of the console.
Also included in the original leak was the price for the Xbox Series X, which, according to Windows Central, will be $499. Additionally, a release date of Nov. 10 was given for the consoles but that has yet to be confirmed by Microsoft. Should the Series X price point prove accurate, it’s not a bad deal for either console. Especially since the long delay has led many, myself included, to believe that both consoles were expected to cost over $500.
There is still no word on what Sony will charge for either the all-digital PS5 or the more traditional model. Hopefully, this move will encourage them to reveal those details sooner rather than later.