Xbox Fall Lineup Unveiled
The wait is finally over as many have been wondering who would be the first company to officially unveil the price and release date of next generation. Whether Microsofts hand was forced or if it was a calculated leak, the end result is still the same; Project Lockhart is real. Xbox Series S is official and it looks like a stroke of genius from Microsoft. The Series X and the Series S will both launch on November 10, keeping in line with the past three iterations of the console being released in November. Although, Microsoft ventured off course slightly as in the past they have had an affiliation with November 22, which was much closer to my prediction. This means that we are less than two months away from the start of next gen.
There was plenty of information released this week from the pricing, to the release date, to the preorder date, the all access payment plan and even changes to GamePass. Let’s get the important information out of the way and that is the pricing and how Xbox has positioned themselves to be ultra completive this holiday and this generation. The Xbox Series X will be priced at $499 US, which is actually cheaper than I expected it to be. Based on a report earlier this year from Bloomberg regarding the hard cost of the PS5 and how the cost of each unit was around $450 dollars, I was expecting a more technologically advanced system to cost even more and therefore sell for more.
It’s likely that Microsoft is going to use the pricing on their systems as loss leaders to get people into the GamePass ecosystem. However, even if you can’t find a reason to buy an Xbox Series X at launch, then they have the Xbox Series S, which will be selling for an astoundingly low next gen price of $299 US. Yes, the Nintendo Switch launched at $299 US but in terms of pricing for a new console that is built around graphics and power, the launch price is unheard of. Even if a lot of people don’t purchase the Series S, the low price is still an public image thing to compete with Sony and the PS5. There is no way the PS5 will be priced anywhere near $299, especially since the only difference between their two consoles is that one is completely digital. Based on the Bloomberg report earlier this year, there is still a good chance that the PS5 comes in higher than $499, but Microsoft has put Sony in a tough spot with the price of these consoles.
I think there is still a world where Sony releases the PS5 at a higher price than $499. The PS4 has currently sold over 110 million and consumers are invested in their ecosystem. Even though they haven’t announced much in terms of backwards compatibility, there is still a good chance that they have earned enough goodwill this generation with some great exclusives. I think this type of hubris from Sony might hurt sales initially but the people that are hardcore gamers are going to buy this system no matter the price. Whatever the initial run of production is for the system, that will sell quickly but how it sells after will be the important factor. Although as I mentioned last week, pricing doesn’t seem to be all that important when determining a generational winner in the console wars. As a matter of fact, one of the few systems to launch at a cheaper price that actually won the generation was the PS4.
Turning our attention back to the Xbox Series S, it seems as though it has been built with the main principle being next generation. According to the post on Xbox Wire, the” Xbox Series S is designed around the same technology “ meaning that purchasing the more affordable model means you will be able to reap the same rewards including “faster load times, Quick Resume, HDMI 2.1, up to 120 FPS, Ray Tracing and Variable rate shading” The areas that the Xbox Series S has to make concessions is that it doesn’t have a disc drive, the SSD is only 512GB, and it only supports up to 1440p, although it does 4K playback. This design philosophy seems to be built with data that Xbox has regarding whether fans choose frame rate or resolution when given the option and found that" “many of our fans prioritize frame rate”
Microsoft started piloting the all access program just recently in the last few years as a way to gauge interest for having a payment plan to purchase your Xbox, similar to how cell phones are purchased these days for most people. With the rollout of the next generation of Xbox, Microsoft is expanding their offerings. When the new consoles launch, there will now be 12 countries who can participate in the program making it easier than ever to get a new console. If you are interested in the Series S, then $24.99 a month for two years will get you a brand new system and two years of Game Pass Ultimate, and if you are looking for the Series X then it will just cost you $34.99.
Finally the other big piece of news they had to share was that joining Game Pass this holiday will be EA Play, which is the subscription service for EA. The service on its own was around 10 bucks a month, but is now included with Game Pass. Microsoft is continuing its march towards being the Netflix of games as they keep increasing the value of the service. Despite your potential feelings and opinions of EA, adding an extra 60 plus games to Game Pass, is a win, no matter which way you look at it.
The expectations for the Series S in comparison to the Series X have to be in line with the Nintendo Switch compared to the Switch Lite. The Series X will still be the main seller, especially early on because if you are buying a new console from Microsoft this holiday then it means you are likely a hardcore gamer, especially how last generation went for Xbox. This means that the hardcore gamer will want the best product available to them and that will be the Series X. The standard Nintendo Switch is far and away the bigger seller but the Switch Lite has sold extremely well, moving almost 10 million units in a short period of time because three years into the cycle, there are people who don’t want all the bells and whistles and just want to experience some of the exclusives that Nintendo has. The same thing will happen with the Series X and the Series S.
The entry priced system isn’t going to be for everybody as there are plenty of gamers who are happy to pay a premium for the best offering. Microsoft has even seen this happen this past generation with premium offerings such as the Xbox One X and the Xbox Elite Controller. Around half way thorough the generation Microsoft stopped releasing sales figures of Xbox One as it was detrimental to the brand and instead turned it’s focus elsewhere but Phil Spencer has said multiple times that the Xbox One X sold very well when measured against their expectations. As for the Xbox Elite controller that sold for almost $200 each, those clearly sold extremely well as Microsoft iterated on the controller and released the 2.0 in 2019.
Whether or not the leak was calculated, Microsoft responded swiftly. They got out all the information they needed, and did it in a concise manner. Without Halo Infinite launching with the systems this holiday, there was an expectation that something bigger might fill the void or they would place more focus on another title, my hope was that it was going to be Flight Simulator to truly show the power of the Series X. That might have been enough to sway a few potential buyers, but it looks like the focus is on third party titles and Gears Tactics, which looks great and reviewed well but it already came out on the PC in the spring. However, with the addition of EA Play to Game Pass, there will be almost 200 games to play plus all the big fall titles including Assassins Creed Valhalla, Call of Duty, and CyberPunk 2077.
There is a very good chance that Sony has all of the marketing material and press releases already done but it was just a matter of timing. Sony now must adjust and react quickly. Right now plenty of gamers could be making their decisions for their next generation plans, especially since Xbox has made the Series S such an affordable way to jump in. Without much of a surprise, Sony has announced a PS5 showcase for this coming Wednesday, just slightly over a week after Microsoft unveiled their holiday plans. I feel like we might be in for a repeat of earlier this year when everyone was talking about how Microsoft was making all the right moves and how Sony was staying quiet. Sony then revealed a PS5 State of Play and everyone jumped ship right back to PlayStation. I expect a repeat of this as history does have a tendency to repeat itself but we will know for sure in a couple of days.