If Microsoft really has flexibility on pricing then they should just go first and be aggressive. They know the general range its costing Sony for the PS5 as these two machines are basically the same sans a couple of differences. Put out an aggressive price and say your turn Sony. Stop dragging it out.
My personal theory is Microsoft is going to launch their models $50 cheaper than the comparable PS5 model. Throw in 3 months of Game Pass ($45) on top of that and they can advertise the hell out of their price point. And make the XSS console $150-200 cheaper than the XSX.
stusser
1565
Yep the XSS at $299 or less playing every XSX game perfectly at 1080p would be very attractive for a lot of people.
It could be Microsoftâs secret weapon.
RickH
1566
Not to mention that if rumors are correct that itâs a diskless console, all game purchases will be through MS with no retailer getting a share. That alone could justify selling the S below cost.
Making the XSS discless would immediately move it from âinterestedâ to ânever buy,â and would actively block one of their own selling points of having three generations of BC. I only have a handful of physical Xbox One and OG Xbox games, but I have over ninety physical Xbox 360 games, and part of the reason I picked up an Xbox One was the promise of being able to play at least some of them through BC. I have no interest in hardware that ditches that selling point, and would just wait for a model with an optical drive to be cheap before I even looked at buying the console.
If you have a big collection of disc based Xbox and 360 games youâd be out of luck, but just about all of them are available on the marketplace plus theyâve been giving away a bunch of both genâs games with Xbox Live Gold.
Would a discless version support external drives?
The discless Xbox One S cannot, so Iâd assume the same will be true for any Series S version.
Agreed. If the Series S doesnât have a disc drive, it would kill my interest in it as well.
stusser
1572
I do think itâs likely the XSS wonât have a drive. Itâs a cost-optimized product, they want to get it as cheap as possible.
If you want Game Pass, youâve got to get one or the other. MS is happy for you to spend a couple extra hundies on the XSX.
Yeah, I think the rumor that the S has no optical drive basically kills the product. Youâre targeting budget sensitive users and then cutting them off from access to their library of physical games and used game purchases. Self-defeating, another unforced error from MS.
I doubt it kills the product. I would bet that for each of these hypothetical Xbox gamers with sizable disc-based back catalogs who are turned off by the lack of physical media, there is probably someone considering a relatively inexpensive option for use as a Game Pass machine.
@divedivedive beat me too it.
A reasonably priced console + game pass and/or project X cloud can mean a large library of games. I have no desire to every purchase a physical copy of a game again.
What was the last generation of kids that actually had to use physical media on a regular basis?
Our main consoles are still a 360 and Wii so when I go downstairs the kids have discs all over the place. It drives me nuts.
Petey
1579
We just took a case of about 20 3DS game cartridges to Goodwill. The daughter was a little sad but happy to have her Switch so no biggieâŚall digital from now on.
stusser
1580
That definitely wonât kill the product. If you have a ton of old games you presumably have a xbone to play them on. Itâs essential that the XSS be as cheap as possible, as its purpose is to get people to subscribe to game pass.
I donât see why they couldnât offer another SKU with a drive, though.
If youâre someone with a large library of Xbox BC games you want to play, they can likely sell you a XSX anyway.
The XSS will be targeted at people for whom price is their largest and only concern - which is a lot of people.
Agreed. It makes sense for the 2 consoles (especially if they have pretty similar capabilities graphically if not resolution wise) to target 2 distinct markets: The enthusiast and long time gamer with a large disc collection is likely to be happier with the X. The price conscious and more recent gamers, with GamePass / more likely to have digital purchases than discs, the series S.
Not everybody has a 4K TV. Not everybody has piles of discs. Not everybody can afford the higher end model. Doesnât mean they might not want to upgrade their One / One S.
This would allow MS to clearly target the consoles at 2 different groups and tailor advertisement and promotions accordingly. I donât see how that would kill the product. except for the people it wasnât targeting.
That said, given how late in the day it is, itâs all one big question mark right now. MS certainly hasnât shown much of its hand on how it wants to play this. They might decide on an in between compromise. But, to me, it seems better to go aggressively cheap with Series S while the world is in recession.
I assume you feel the same away about the PS5 Digital, whose existence is also presumably predicated on price-sensitive customers, and is confirmed not to have an optical drive for people to play their PS4 games? Wall to wall unforced errors over here.
Regarding price, Itâll be interesting to see if they go aggressive for the S or X, or both (or neither). The mere existence of the Series S could mean they are okay with not taking a bath on the Series X, since if youâre price sensitive, thereâs still an option for you.
My own guess is the Series X just price matches the PS5 (hence this endless game of chicken they are playing). The real wildcard is indeed the Series S. Iâm thinking $299 or $349 (assuming a $499 Series X/PS5), but I say that with no idea what effect the weaker GPU and less memory has on the overall BOM compared to the Series S.
And of course, that itself hinges on all of the more recent âleaksâ and reporting on the Series S hardware being completely accurate to begin with, haha.
Right now the thing Iâm most interested in, is seeing what the Series S/X launch window looks like, with Halo moved to 2021. The Medium appears to be aiming for launch, as are some Xbox One enhanced titles, but theyâve still not confirmed the complete lineup otherwise. If itâs a relative desert until Halo, I may go for the PS5 first and pick up an Xbox when Halo comes out.
