There is probably no greater joy than watching a kid who never owned a console get one for christmas morning.
This happened to my nephews, who got a Series S for Christmas and have never owned a video game console in their life.
After setting up their Series S, I subscribed them to Game Pass and their minds have been blown. If you want some perspective from your jaded view of gaming, watch a kid who has no agenda, motive, or bias towards a console. All they experience is pure joy of gaming, Xbox nailed the value proposition with Game Pass, they are downloading new games every day and playing them. The Series S also fits perfectly in their playroom, with a TV and small Ikea cabinet shelf, no other console would have fit on their shelf.
From my point of view, they have now formed habits in which they expect to download a game and play, without going to a store or asking their parents to buy a game. It’s a powerful, game-changing method that makes it extremely difficult to go back to a traditional way of purchasing games.
The Series S is the most important and significant console release ever. It makes next gen gaming genuinely accessible to people where it wasn’t before. The example in the OP sums it up perfectly.
I know loads of families who can’t afford anything like £350-500 for a console but their kids want one desperately.
Series S doesn’t fix all that as it still will be too expensive for some but along with gamepass it lowers the barrier significantly. Significantly.
Microsoft should win all sorts of awards for this.
Game Pass is the single best thing that happened for me in gaming, ever, and I’ve been gaming since the NES in the early 90’s. Between that, Quick Resume and the Series X power, it’s a completely different ball game. It’s absolutely insane to look at what Xbox has done for Xbox gamers since 2015 (incredible BC program, One S/X, Game Pass with a ton of gamesd day and date + EA Play now, play anywhere, all those acquisitions, cross platform push, Series S, Series X power and tech, etc.). I’m super excited for this gen, I believe it will be Xbox’s best so far.
Gamepass is really great. Even PC gamers can enjoy the greatness. I’m blown away that I can play with my friends with crossplay ! It’s a huge drive for evening coop/multiplayer sessions especially in this time of Covid and isolation !
Only (few) question(s) I have for you @Dom : does your nephews have access to all the gamepass games ? even the Mature ones, like Doom Eternal or are they locked out ? If so, what games have they access to/enjoy the most ? I’m curious.
One thing that I would like to add is that the seriesS will last just as long as seriesX + ps5, ive seen some people say that it will struggle 3 or 4yrs into its life, but this is nonsense resolution and other effects are extremely scalable and thanks to the CPU+SSD seriesS will also provide a great experience.
People laughed at Xbox One SAD but this was a prototype for this very concept.
The only thing wrong with the SAD was indeed that it was an Xbox One which was of course underpowered to hell. Everything else is the same proposition with Game Pass.
Now you get a console that can keep up with this generation and with none of the fuss.
For those who it is aimed for, it’s a great device.and I can’t wait for it to become cheaper still so can be a truly entry level device.
