Xbox Series X is, far and away, the most powerful of the two consoles, and they're launching for the same price. It's not as devastating as the weaker Xbox One launching for $100 more than the PS4, but it's still not a good look.
It's a pretty meaningless fact though when they don't have any games that show it off. Microsoft are clearly leaning hard on just winning the pricing war, because they have been really dumb on the exclusives side.
If they'd wanted to win that battle, the Series X should be launching with Halo and Fable on day 1, and they should be 2 of the best looking games you've ever seen. That would make a huge impact. Given how much time they've had to prepare for it, I don't understand why they haven't done that.
I knew they would, given that they've put so much emphasis on backcompat. Games like Witcher 2, Red Dead, Final Fantasy XIII, Fable Anniversary will look so damn good in 1440p.
Also it sounds very likely that current gen games will get boosts to 60fps. That'll be awesome in open-world games like Witcher 3 and FFXV.
Pretty much everyone who has a current Xbox One should upgrade! The Series S does everything the current Xbox One does and more, for a tiny price increase.
Series X's superior GPU will matter in third party games if you have a 4KTV. Which is what people who buy the more expensive model will care about in the first place.
I agree Microsoft needs to up its console exclusives game, though. The Medium looks really good, at least.
Currently Playing on January 13, 2026: The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy (PC)
Lol I still don't even have a 1440p screen. I have 3 different TVs/monitors are none of them is higher than 1080p. So 4K just seems like fantasy irrelevance to me. The Series S seems like it was made specifically for me. I'm sure Microsoft care deeply about me, so it must be true
@Dezzy Me too. And I'm sure the same applies to a LOT of people. Which is why the Series S is such a good idea. Aside from raytracing features, graphical fidelity now seems very tied to absurd pixel counts in games. It's such a waste.
I just like PC more, so I don't know that I'll end up picking up a Series S, but I've been VERY, VERY tempted to. And considering how down I've been on Microsoft for years now, that tells you something.
I kinda hope the Series S kicks the PS5's teeth in, and they're forced to release a budget PS5 revision midway through the gen to try and salvage their sales.
@Ralizah I'm hoping PS5 outsells both Xbox systems at launch so Microsoft focuses more on their 1st party library. It's pretty obvious from the current situation that on the 1st party front, Microsoft was solely reliant on Halo Infinite for the near future.
@Grumblevolcano Microsoft has spent the last seven or so years getting destroyed by Sony, and they've recently spent a lot of money acquiring studios to make games for them. They know they're lacking in that area. But... it takes time to fix. Best case scenario is that, by the end of this gen, Microsoft has a reliable stable of studios consistently developing excellent games for them.
If nothing else, Obsidian was a good pick. They have a loooooooooooong way to go if they ever want to compete with Sony and Nintendo, though.
Currently Playing on January 13, 2026: The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy (PC)
@Ralizah While it does take time to fix, I would say releasing 1st party games only on PC doesn't help. Like imagine how big it would've been if Age of Empires had its debut on Xbox in the launch window with those Definitive Editions. Age of Empires 2 came to PS2 so I doubt controls would be an issue.
@Ralizah I'm hoping PS5 outsells both Xbox systems at launch so Microsoft focuses more on their 1st party library. It's pretty obvious from the current situation that on the 1st party front, Microsoft was solely reliant on Halo Infinite for the near future.
Is that how you want to reward Microsoft after righting every wrong, developing the best hardware and setting 15 studios up?
Is that how you want to reward Microsoft after righting every wrong, developing the best hardware and setting 15 studios up?
Lets see what they actually produce before we celebrate. If Halo Infinite becomes a game of the year contender, if the new Fable game is as good as Fable 2 but with the graphical quality of Forza (given that it's the same dev) and if Avowed is on the same level as Skyrim in terms of first person RPGs, well then they'll definitely be back in the game for sure. Bit too early to say that though. They might all suck.
Is that how you want to reward Microsoft after righting every wrong, developing the best hardware and setting 15 studios up?
Lets see what they actually produce before we celebrate. If Halo Infinite becomes a game of the year contender, if the new Fable game is as good as Fable 2 but with the graphical quality of Forza (given that it's the same dev) and if Avowed is on the same level as Skyrim in terms of first person RPGs, well then they'll definitely be back in the game for sure. Bit too early to say that though. They might all suck.
@BlueOcean Right now I don't think Microsoft have fixed Xbox's problems, instead they use Game Pass to distract from its problems. I have some hope it will be fixed in the next 2 years or so though.
A Viva Pinata 3 that's exclusive to Series S/X would probably sell me on one of them. Those games are so fun. Hopefully Rare starts working on that after they're finished with whatever this Everwild thing is.
Also, collect the original Banjo Kazooie dev team and make Banjo-Threeie a reality.
One thing that i realized after watching some trailers of upcoming games, there were some games have NO release for Xbox machines. (PS4 & Switch version only)
Some titles such as Yonder the Cloud Catcher Chronicles, Effie, Dragon Quest Builders 1 & 2, etc.
What makes the developers avoid Xbox machines for their upcoming games ?
@Dezzy My initial comment has nothing to do with what you replied. I named three real reasons and you are questioning the quality of future games when I didn't even mention games. You also said don't celebrate yet when I'm not celebrating anything.
If someone wishes that Microsoft fails when they are doing everything right because future games might "suck" @Dezzy or because the games haven't come @Grumblevolcano that doesn't make any sense, especially if they have acknowledged the need of quality games already.
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