In a post COVID world, I think there is a very strong case for Series S.
They just need to keep on delivering with Game Pass.
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Think they will sell every one they make. Long as the marketing is on point they will be like gold dust.
Might be best launching Fall guys in March in that case? If they have any say obviously.
Completely disagree that Microsoft should have led with the S, the price is what makes the S attractive, until they were ready to talk about that, they were right to keep it under wraps and build hype through the X’s power advantage.
And while it’s not hugely likely that MS will shift more consoles than Sony this generation, I wouldn’t rule it out completely. How cheap will the S be by mid gen? During sales? Brand recognition is certainly important, but offering great value for money is a superb way to increase your brand recognition anywhere in the world. I think Microsoft will be giving Sony much more of a run for their money than many would expect.
It’s not deceptive, you are getting what you are paying for.
You aren’t considering how most casual gamers do not have multiple games installed, or how xbox allows to use a regular HDD to hold games.
It’s an insane price, and while yeah, if you want to expand the SSD storage it would cost more it’s still a perfectly reasonable amount for the target audience.
Sony won’t sell many PS5’s in Japan either. I think the other PAL regions are gonna be a lot closer depending on how MS rolls out services. They have always struggled with services and pricing in other regions so with their big push on these areas this gen things might turn out differently. Don’t think ppl should presume too much too early on.
Who said XSS has no hardware for RT? o.0
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The most important feature for the S was going to be the price.
£249? They’ve nailed it.
Absolutely it will be the main console, maybe not for console tech-fans, maybe not for console players after the premium experience, but for Xbox? Sure. Its insane value and that’s before throwing in Game Pass. This thing will sell out easily for Xmas and if MS are smart, the S is where the bulk of production efforts will be.
The S was always going to sell more, even before today. 4K native and 52 compute units? Nice. But for many people in this crazy year, £249 is…nicer. S will be the bread and butter console, and a very powerful and capable one for that price.
And for those who want the full fat next gen experience, that’s where X comes in.
Choices are wonderful.
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But will it? Here’s what sony has that will never change regardless of price: brand loyalty. Couple that with a superior first-party game lineup, and I don’t see the market share changing much.
At £249, the S is cheap enough for some PS owners to consider the S as a second console - certainly if what’s I’ve read on other forums is any indication.
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key phrase: as a second console.
I’m sure that MS doesn’t care if it is a second, third, or even fourth console (behind the PC)
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The majority of PlayStation owners probably wouldn’t consider themselves brand loyalists, they went for the cheapest option or the one that their friends had rather than buying a console because it had Sony on the box. There’s definitely room for a large chunk of users to switch, it happens pretty much every gen.
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I’ve said this on reddit but I think the S is going to carry the Xbox series for a while, it’ll be a damn good companion console for primary PS5 players
And?
The money MS receives from a console sale isn’t devalued in anyway because its a second console.
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Yep.
The money MS receives from a console sale isn’t devalued in anyway because its a second console, or third even. These days its all about getting people into the ecosystem, if that’s via ‘second-console’ sales, PC, xCloud, is irrelevant to them.
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If people buy Xbox as a second console and sub to GamesPass, they’ll likely be giving more money to Microsoft each year than they do to the maker of their primary console.
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I would argue that all those “casual” console players who only play FIFA, Fortnite, CoD etc. will be interested in a $299 entry into next-gen. They don’t care about brand as much as price.
Precisely a lot of people overblow how much these exclusives matter to people outside of the hardcore bubble. Most will buy an exclusive moreso as they already have the machine not because they specifically got it for that.
When I see people who switched over from 360 to PS4 the reasons? The PS4 was cheaper and had the best versions of 3rd party games. That’s it. As that first year for PS4 was not especially great. Xbox had arguably the better exclusives at launch and that first year.
I always find it funny that a lot of brand loyalist gamers always forget there is a huge swath of casual gamers more than the combined numbers of people who call themselves ‘hardcore’ who have no loyalty to either console and will happily drop one for the other with nary a thought. Ecosystems be damned.
Now MS has a box that offers those 2-3 games a year crowd a way to play Madden,CoD and Assassins Creed at a very cheap price. Throw in gamepass and you have a very interesting cocktail.
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Totally agree, but most people can’t buy two. We’re looking at a smaller group of people here so i don’t necessarily think the series s will turn the tide in terms of market share. I hope i’m wrong.
It won’t, but MS has done just fine living in second place - Azure, Surface, Xbox, etc … They don’t really lead the market in anything besides Office and W10 yet are very profitable. Having enough market share that games come to the system is all that matters. Don’t need games skipping the system like last time
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