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Was Series S necessary for Microsoft?
- Thread starter Yoboman
- Start date
analog_future
Resident Crybaby
It wasn't "necessary" in that MS would've done just fine without it, but it was definitely the right move and has undoubtedly helped boost sales.
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The_Mike
I cry about SonyGaf from my chair in Redmond, WA
Imagine if Ferrari owners made a poll "are smaller and cheaper cars necessary when you can just buy a Ferrari?"
Congrats that you can afford an expensive console. Not everyone can.
Series s costs the same as the entry of previous gen, series x is like double as expensive as entry price last gen.
At least in my country.
Congrats that you can afford an expensive console. Not everyone can.
Series s costs the same as the entry of previous gen, series x is like double as expensive as entry price last gen.
At least in my country.
kyliethicc
Member
microsoft have decided that xbox is to become a budget gaming brand. gamepass and sbox are attempts to offer people good enough for what appear like lower prices.
bentanchorbolt
Banned
Weird flex to spend $70b on ActiBlizz, $7b on Bethesda/Zenimax, only to shift entire business model to budget gaming with merely a "good enough" offering.
Deerock71
Member
Good enough to run The Matrix demo is good enough for this gen.
Hestar69
Member
Yes anyone who complains that it's going to hurt the series X and ps5 is a Moron or fanboy. I could only get the series S at first and now I have a X . I gave the series S to my cousin to play pubg with us and he loves it.
The consoles great for casuals who just want to play the big games with friends.
The consoles great for casuals who just want to play the big games with friends.
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fart town usa
Gold Member
Considering the Series S is the throttle for MS console gaming, the more appropriate question is, "Was Series X necessary?"
Topher
Gold Member
Everyone upset at Phil for being able to produce more Series S' than the other systems:
fart town usa
Gold Member
Oh lord, I forgot about the Switch Pro stuff, lol.
MarkMe2525
Member
If it is true that nearly half of Series S buyers are new to the ecosystem... then obviously yes.
Ghost of Caelid
Banned
Yes , their name fell out of the mainstream and PS4 dominated mind share. Gaming was synonymous with Sony and Nintendo. XSS bought the back into the casual market they were missing out on.
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Jimmyisback
Banned
Series s gonna sell like hotcakes.
Ozzy Onya A2Z
Member
It's a great move in many ways, irrespective of how a particular gamer feels about it -
- The S essentially replaces the Xbox One while giving Xbox a performance leg up against later stage sales and install base of PS4 etc.
- S has the cheaper entry point, over time moves into an "impulse buy" category faster than X.
- Most households do not own a 4K TV/display as yet. Most are still on HD, perfect for series S. Many kids are on a hand-me-down TV or second unit that is even older.
- The manufacturing from the initial design and development is hand in hand with the Series X, saving wastages and improving yields fit for purpose uses etc e.g. solid backend business basically.
- The form factor and running costs are minimised e.g. away from just USA.
- Great emulation device.
- Shares activities across PC via Xbox/GP and enjoys cross play, cross saves, security, community/friends/chat/achievements etc.
- Cheaper secondary gaming device in the house e.g. parent vs child or younger siblings.
- Full digital experience and library is a thing e.g. no need for a disc drive.
- Great backwards compatible device e.g. minor upgrades, tradeins, replacements for older consoles.
- Discreet all in one device e.g. streaming apps, gaming, movies, music etc. Just connect it to a TV and all is available.
- Ongoing savings with Gamepass e.g. parents buy a device and a sub or sub later when they get sick of buying games etc.
- Accessibility e.g. the S and Adaptive Controller go hand in hand.
- There is also the All Access subscription plans where you bundle the hardware + GP for 2 years and pay a fixed monthly fee e.g. mobile/cell and telco subscription model. There's basically zero interest on the deal, pretty sweet actually.
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SteelCurtain 59
Member
As a hardcore enthusiast I personally don't like the potential impact of limiting games by the low hardware (though theoretically having the same CPU and SSD should allow the Series S to "run" pure next gen games just at terrible graphics/performance), but from a market share perspective it was a genius move by Microsoft, it gets tons more people into the Xbox ecosystem, and gives people a cheap option during tough financial times. Even Playstation primary gamers could easily buy one to play Starfield or Halo (assuming they don't play PC) It basically means for most practical terms, the only way you're "locked out" of playing Xbox exclusives is if you're doing it to yourself
Topher
Gold Member
Considering the Series S is the throttle for MS console gaming, the more appropriate question is, "Was Series X necessary?"
LordOfChaos
Member
They would have lost even more badly with only X and its larger die size.
DarkMage619
$MSFT
The evidence shows that XSS has helped get more people into the Xbox ecosystem than previous Xboxes. Oh and a system selling out doesn't mean that it is more popular. XSS get restocked quickly. All the XSS' I've seen in stores has the new holiday packaging. You really think those systems have been sitting there unsold for months or years?
Aenima
Member
Looking at online shops from my country the xbox series X has triple the amount of user reviews than the series S. Which implies that is the most sold console. And if one is sold out and the other never is. Is not because they are fast restocking one model.
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DaleinCalgary
Member
Yes of course they sold more units with a low cost option. But they screwed over XSX owners with first party games needed to be dumbed down.
TheThreadsThatBindUs
Member
It hasn't helped them much at all beyond the obvious modest increase in yields due to the smaller die size... but even then MS couldn't buy enough wafers to gain an adoption lead in the market.
Component scarcity basically ruined the chances of XSS achieving its goals; essentially making it redundant. MS would have been much better off in hindsight foregoing XSS, and buying more wafers to increase XSX production, while keeping the focus on a single console SKU.
Going in with XSS has cost them revenue when every next-gen console SKU has been sold out for the past 2 yrs because both MS and Sony can't make enough consoles to keep up with demand.
Component scarcity basically ruined the chances of XSS achieving its goals; essentially making it redundant. MS would have been much better off in hindsight foregoing XSS, and buying more wafers to increase XSX production, while keeping the focus on a single console SKU.
Going in with XSS has cost them revenue when every next-gen console SKU has been sold out for the past 2 yrs because both MS and Sony can't make enough consoles to keep up with demand.
I Master l
Banned
In my country Series S cost less than half as much as the PS5 DE
ShadyAcshuns
Member
Got one for a 1080p tv and it's a great system. I don't understand the hate for it, which seems to be mostly from those who don't even own one.
Justin9mm
Member
It was to make Gamepass accessible to more people not wanting to invest in the Series X.
Everyone knows this. This itself made it necessary for Xbox to boost subscription numbers.
What I can tell you is that it's a big hinderance to the development on current gen 1st party Xbox titles.
Everyone knows this. This itself made it necessary for Xbox to boost subscription numbers.
What I can tell you is that it's a big hinderance to the development on current gen 1st party Xbox titles.
Hawking Radiation
Member
Had one and would have kept it if I didn't decide to go all in on PC. I hope they up the storage on future Series S models though. 512GB fills up stupid quick.
That's the other brilliant play by Xbox. Flexibility to play on whatever platform you choose.
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
It was neccessary for them because for whatever reason they werent able to secure even 50% of the PS5 stock for the XSX. XSS is now outselling the XSX with the splits being effectively 50:50. MS has yet to release numbers but last numbers we had were 13 million to 20 million which means only 6.5 million XSX vs 20 million PS5s. They wouldve lost the gen in the first year if they hadnt come out with the xss. 13 million keeps them competitive until CoD becomes an exclusive, and then they might have a chance to top Playstation.
You can bet they will release a Series S model for their next gen console to target the cod userbase who doesnt care about resolutions.
MarkMe2525
Member
The only thing that is proof of is MS has been able to capitalize on more potential sales because there is a product they can actually keep on shelves. Imagine how many customers MS would have missed out on if their $500 box, that is sold out consistently, was the only option available for purchase.
Aenima
Member
If series S didnt existed, MS had more components to manufactor series X. So there would be more series X available to purchase than there is actually as they have to split the manufactor components between 2 models.
DaleinCalgary
Member
They don't own one because they hate it
MarkMe2525
Member
To an extent of course, but we are talking millions upon millions. The S and X use different ssd's, apu's, psu's, coolers etc... It is a misnomer to assume for every Series S manufactured there is one less Series X on store shelves, on the contrary, Series S production probably doesn't eat Into X production by a very large amount.
DarkMage619
$MSFT
Well tons of Switch consoles on the shelf around here. Obviously no one is buying one! Using anecdotal evidence is not a way of determining if something is selling.
Kataploom
Gold Member
In Colombia XSS is around 1.7M pesos, the cheapest PS5 is around 3M pesos, once you consider that most people earn around 1.5M to 4M pesos (well at least as far as I've seen personally), you can see how the top average earners (not the top of the top high middle class) can get still buy the cheapest PS5 but will rather save some money and just get the XSS instead, unless it's a diehard Sony fan.
Even if it's just around $200, in other currencies the perceived difference is way bigger, in US Dollars EVERYTHING looks cheaper, even if seen from an outsider perspective, but in different countries with different currencies the perception of distances between two amounts of money tend to differentiate a lot from USA
Not necessarily, it probably was a multipurpose play from Microsoft, part of it might be assure components for their consoles, maybe CPU waffles are shared but memory, storage and GPU aren't, also the rest of the components are smaller so they are cheaper in general, if by that you can make sure more consoles get to more homes without competing for the same components with Sony, that's a shot in the ground imo
WeAreVenom8659
Banned
I bought one for my wife, and I play on the X. I’ve messed around on it (that’s my home console so we can game share and game pass share), and it is an awesome machine. I think a lot of people that hate on it haven’t actually used it.
Topher
Gold Member
Yeah, I've said before that storage space was my only complaint and why I decided to go with X. I think they should leave the price point at $299 but double the SSD size. And get some more vendors selling the damn expansion cards. This Seagate monopoly is absurd.
MarkMe2525
Member
My daughter has one and an external ssd made all the difference. Went from taking 25 minutes to transfer Battlefield V from HHD to internal to around 4 minutes. I also agree going with a doubling of the internal SSD vs a traditional price cut.
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Chickenwing10
Member
Having a cheaper option is always good. But they needed to just have a version of the X without a disc drive and knock of $50 or so. The S is only hindering the X and PS5(for multplatform games). On top of that games are still being made for PS4 and XBO, so that's not helping either. They might sell more because it's the "cheap" next gen option, but i think it's hurt more than helped all gamers.
Gamerguy84
Member
You never know. Maybe MS sees the success of this console and runs with it from now on. They might just double down and go low spec hardware from here on out.
Seeing the success of Switch not to mention they only care about GP subs.
Seeing the success of Switch not to mention they only care about GP subs.
Rendered Tangent
Banned
More choice is always a good thing.
Pitched as significantly cheaper than the Series X, with enough of an upgrade over the One S and S, and with the cheapness of Game Pass, it definitely has a place.
The issue seems to be that some think it is holding the Series X back, and I suppose the ps5 by extension as regards multi platform releases.
I find this strange, as almost all AAA titles are still releasing on ps4 and Xbox One, and are also built with the pc market in mind - a market which has far more hardware discrepancies among it's potential customer base than anything on console.
If you can build a game that will/has to run on everything from a 1060 up to a 4090, I don't see why the Series S is an especially difficult entity to incorporate into that hardware spectrum.
Pitched as significantly cheaper than the Series X, with enough of an upgrade over the One S and S, and with the cheapness of Game Pass, it definitely has a place.
The issue seems to be that some think it is holding the Series X back, and I suppose the ps5 by extension as regards multi platform releases.
I find this strange, as almost all AAA titles are still releasing on ps4 and Xbox One, and are also built with the pc market in mind - a market which has far more hardware discrepancies among it's potential customer base than anything on console.
If you can build a game that will/has to run on everything from a 1060 up to a 4090, I don't see why the Series S is an especially difficult entity to incorporate into that hardware spectrum.
DavidGzz
Member
Yep, and I think is also confirms it's selling to parents with kids getting into gaming. Kids don't need the top of the line console hardware. A Series S plus Game Pass will keep them happy.