OPINION: The Xbox Series X console has been a giant flop. It feels like an afterthought in Microsoft’s grand plans to move the Xbox brand away from a single piece of hardware.
I’ve never been loyal to a single console platform as I like to switch it up a bit, no pun intended. After the Commodore 64 it was the Sega Mega Drive, then the Sony PlayStation, then the Xbox 360, then the PS4 and Nintendo Switch and then, finally, the Xbox Series X.
The Xbox Series X is the least used – a literal waste of space with its ugly ass perched on my entertainment centre next to stuff I’ve thoughtfully curated, and ruining the atmos’.
I realised the other day that this black hulk of ungainly plastic has been sat next to my television for actual years drinking down energy, barely touched. It’s been in sleep mode longer than Stallone and Wesley Snipes in Demolition Man.
I’ve been writing about tech for more than a decade and a half and feel like I let myself down with this purchase. It’s maybe the worst I’ve ever made. If I’m giving myself an out, it was the pandemic era and we all went a little cooky back then, but really, I still should have known better.
It was already clear the PS5 was going to dominate with exclusives again. Why did I trust Microsoft’s promises they’d do better this time after the blowout loss of the Xbox One vs PS4 console war?
Microsoft did do better but not in a way that makes me feel good about that buying that Series X. They completely switched tact and going all in on bringing Xbox Everywhere, negating the need for a console in the first place.
Way beyond Game Pass
Game Pass Ultimate featuring some of the best Xbox Series X games is becoming ubiquitous with Microsoft bringing the console experience to more and more screens. Last week Microsoft confirmed it the Xbox app was coming to LG Smart TVs and monitors and it was already on Samsung counterparts and through select Amazon Fire TV devices, through most connected screened devices with a web browser.
Outside of Game Pass, Microsoft is gradually bringing gamers’ owned games library available to stream over the cloud. As this expands, you’ll be able to buy games through the Xbox app and immediately stream them without downloading. Saving time and money.
These days, you can get a comparable experience on a $50 Fire Stick to the console I paid ten times as much for, which also consumes significantly more energy. In most circumstances I don’t need the highest frame rate and 4K resolution, so this 1080p/30fps experience is more than OK with me! However, a 4K upgrade might be on the way to streaming soon too.
I like Microsoft’s new strategy. I think it makes the gaming experience more accessible to more people. Game Pass is a prime example of that. You can come and go for $17.99 a month and play a library of 100s of games. In a time when new games are being sold for $80 (glares at Nintendo), Game Pass has been a great leveller in that regard. It has brought the Xbox experience to screens people may already own.
But it still doesn’t make me feel any better about spending $500 on the console in the first place! So I’m open to offers! Come and take this thing off my hands and reduce the dust particles in my house by a factor of 50.
Of course, all this couldn’t have been foreseen. But, you know, it would sure have been nice to have access to God of War: Ragnarök, Horizon Forbidden West, The Last of Us: Part 2 Remastered, Gran Turismo 7, Returnal, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and so on, while being able to dip into the Xbox library via Game Pass, or through Microsoft’s new strategy of turning Xbox exclusives like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle more like timed exclusives that’ll end up on PS5 within a few months.
I actually feel more positive about the direction of Xbox than I have throughout this entire era. Now if I can just get this Series X out of my house…