6 Ways Microsoft Has Made the Xbox Series X|S the Most Consumer-Friendly Console

One of the most important aspects of console gaming is the ease of use it provides if you want to enjoy gaming without the hassle of setting up a PC or the time dedication required to dive into PC gaming. With console gaming, you can simply plug in your console of choice and start gaming.

Some aspects of console gaming, however, like platform exclusivity, go against the idea of console gaming and consumer-accessible gaming. Xbox, though, has been slowly making its Xbox Series X|S consoles more and more consumer-friendly, but what makes the Xbox Series X|S so consumer-friendly? Let's find out.

[masterfox]

just dont advertise the console as next gen ;), dont deceive customers.

[porkChop]

We're over two years in. It isn't "next" gen, it's current. And the Series S still plays the same games as Series X and PS5. Your personal feelings for a brand and console are entirely irrelevant to whether it's current gen or not.

[fr0sty]

It plays the same games because developers are forced to dumb down their game to make it work on S, which hurts us all regardless of if we bought Xbox or not, if those developers want to be able to release their game on Xbox Series X. There isn't even any debate to be had about that anymore, developers have confirmed it multiple times now. Microsoft has hurt their own customers by the fact that some devs are skipping Xbox entirely due to not wanting to mess with having to get their game running on S, and other gamers suffer from the features that get either cut or dumbed down so they can run on all 3.

[Bobertt]

Xbox One X had some of it's specs better than the Series S. The series S is half gen.

[darthv72]

Sorry Bob, only one aspect of the one X was better than the SS and that is memory capacity. 12gb of [slower] memory will always be more than 10gb of [faster] memory. Everything else about the one X was below the performance of the SS. Even the mighty 6tf number is less performant than the 4tf of the SS due to the SS having more efficient CPU/GPU.

[Lightning77]

"S, which hurts us all regardless of if we bought Xbox or not, "

Really? So list the games that the that the PS5 are being held back by the S?

"and other gamers suffer from the features that get either cut or dumbed down so they can run on all 3."

Never seen anything like that would made news across all forms of media if that were true. Do you have a link? Of course you don't just more fake news, fake outrage. It's all fake.

Fakeness everywhere.

[fr0sty]

@lightning Every third party game ever released whose developers want to take full advantage of the power of PS5 and XBSX.

Go read the comments from the developers who have decided to not release their game on Xbox at all, or to delay release or remove features, because S couldn't pull it off.

Then remember the fact that the majority of the time, developers want to be able to sell to the Xbox install base, so they just scrap those features outright rather than release it exclusive to PS5 and limit their potential sales... and when that happens, we won't ever hear about it, because nobody is going to say "we wanted to put this in, but yanked it out last minute because S couldn't do it"... they are trying to sell you that game, after all.

A little common sense goes a long way here. No amount of denial can sidestep this reality.

[Eonjay]

Xbox One and PS4 still play games coming out on PS5 and XS. How does playing those games make the Series S next Gen?

[anast]

The S does not play the same games as the PS5. This comment wasn't well thought out.

[porkChop]

@Bobertt
That's just not true. The One X uses older generations of hardware that are much less efficient, less powerful, support less features and capabilities, etc. The One X's 6TF vs the SS' 4TF isn't what you think it is.

The 4TF RDNA2 GPU in the SS is a newer architecture that's way faster per cycle, and it's running at a much higher clock speed. The 6TF Polaris GPU in the One X is far less capable, and was targeting 4K whereas the SS targets 1080p/1440p. The Zen 2 CPU in the SS would run circles around the ancient Jaguar in the One X, and has far better multithread support. The SS has 2GB less RAM, but it's way faster. The SS also has an NVMe SSD whereas the One X had a standard HDD, massive speed difference there.

Having less RAM is really the only issue with the SS' hardware. MS really should have gone with 12GB. The rest of the hardware is more than capable at 1080p/1440p. You need less RAM at lower resolutions but a 6GB drop was a little too much. At 12GB the SS would have been just fine. With 10GB it requires a little extra work to optimize for.

@anast
Obviously the SS doesn't play PS5 exclusives, but it plays everything else. Do I really need to specify something that obvious? You're intelligent enough to understand what I'm saying.

[Lightning77]

@lightning Every third party game ever released whose developers want to take full advantage of the power of PS5 and XBSX.

Huh? In said I want facts not a dodgy vague response.

"Go read the comments from the developers who have decided to not release their game on Xbox at all, or to delay release or remove features, because S couldn't pull it off."

So games aren't releasing on Xbox? With gamepass having its best run yet since January, I'd say other wise. Anyway what games aren't releasing on Xbox? You're digging yourself a bigger hole.

"Then remember the fact that the majority of the time, developers want to be able to sell to the Xbox install base, so they just scrap those features outright rather than release it exclusive to PS5 and limit their potential sales..."

Links, proof, facts. That's all I care about around here.

"we wanted to put this in, but yanked it out last minute because S couldn't do it"... they are trying to sell you that game, after all."

The only example I can think of is Baldurs gate split screen. Which works fine on PS5.

Again you're making things up. No links, no facts then you're just crap posting like usual, like always just your average day on N4G where ppl make believe stuff all day long.

Show the facts, that's all you gotta do.

[ThePacemaker]

Series S still plays the same as Series X & PS5?

sorry Pork, you are delusional.

[fr0sty]

@lightning

Since you're going to move the goal posts around...

Baldur's gate delayed on S because they couldn't get split screen to work on it... again, this is just the case you heard about, there are likely many more incidents where the feature was just cut to make it work on all systems, and when that happens, you'll never hear about it, as no dev wants to talk down on their own game as lacking in features because they're trying to sell it to you still.

https://www.gematsu.com/202...

More evidence of developers being unhappy about being forced to be compatible with Series S:

https://www.videogameschron...

Another developer acknowledging the challenges of getting games working on S... and he admits his comments only apply to developing simpler games, that developers of AAA games have an even harder time... also worth noting he's wearing an Xbox shirt while saying all this.

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

Even more developers saying they are concerned about S holding back games:

https://www.gamesradar.com/...

And simple common sense... again, it doesn't take rocket science to know that the weakest system of any generation is always holding back the most powerful one when it comes to multiplatform games and how they are designed, what features get included, etc... as the game must run on all systems. this is why Switch misses out on many games this generation, and last gen too.

It isn't as big of a deal on PC because they target mid-range systems from the start, since people who own top-shelf gaming PCs make up a tiny percentage of the total PC gaming market... so that is why buying that RTX 4090 is only going to give you better resolution, ray tracing, etc... but it won't give you features that could not be accomplished on any other hardware.

When we started this gen, last gen was holding the games back. Now that we're not doing cross-gen as much anymore, the games are starting to show it, the visuals are getting dramatically better as time progresses, you can clearly tell which games were cross-gen and which were designed to run on current gen systems from the start.

You can dodge it all you want, but the truth has been stated by people who develop games (myself included, though I only do indy PC games) many times over. If you know anything about how game development and gaming hardware works, you know the S is holding multiplatform games back.

Here comes the "attack the source, not the point" moving of the goal posts again... but there's your facts, links included. If you knew anything about game development, you would have known those were facts from the start.

[Lightning77]

Not goal posting I'm asking for facts. Simple.

Yes I mentioned Baldurs gate already.

"Baldur's gate delayed on S because they couldn't get split screen to work on it... again, this is just the case you heard about, there are likely many more incidents where the feature was just cut to make it work on all systems, and when that happens, you'll never hear about it, as no dev wants to talk down on their own game as lacking in features because they're trying to sell it to you still."

You'll never hear about because it's not real again you're making things up in your head. You need to see a doctor about that seriously. You can't seem to tell fiction from reality You made it up in your head. If features were being cut from all systems we would of heard about it the news would of broke wide open by now.

You remember last gen when the X1 was weak and there was #DontGimpPS4 how'd that turn out? They were taking advantage of all of PS4"s features graphically with 1080p While X1 was 900p. Same scenario here nobody's getting hurt except maybe the X.

"More evidence of developers being unhappy about being forced to be compatible with Series S:"

I knew about all those links you posted. Notice how none of those links never answered the question. How does any of this effect PS5 like YOU claimed originally? You made that claim in your comment remember? All those links had nothing to do with holding back PS5 but the S holding itself back and possibly even the X

Especially that last story back in 2020 it was gonna hold back current gen. It's been 3 years and yet nothing has been reported of PS5 being held back at all. Hell AAA games lately have been running better on PS5.

Don't give me this in theory stuff about how PS5 could "possibly " or plausibly" get held back by S those links never answered the question at all. Plus there's 0 evidence out there Just say it, you were wrong.

[crazyCoconuts]

Sure there's probably some level of "holding back" or time and energy spent on squeezing a game down to the S that could have otherwise been spent on optimizing/pushing the X version. But at this point I'd guess we're not looking at huge differences. Definitely not ideal but also not clear we're really noticing it in most cases

[Flakegriffin]

Isn’t the Xbox One X stronger than Series S?

So, how is the series s “current gen” when previous gen is stronger?

[Obscure_Observer]

@fr0sty

"It plays the same games because developers are forced to dumb down their game to make it work on S, which hurts us all regardless of if we bought Xbox or not"

Yeah... right.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media...

https://uploads.disquscdn.c...

As I said before; part of me is happy that both Forspoken and FFXVI is PS5 ONLY games.

[fr0sty]

Just as I said you would, you ignored the majority of the evidence I presented, then moved the goal posts into the one place I told you developers would never go... bashing their own game they are trying to sell you in order to tell you that they scrapped a feature due to it not running on S... just as I expected you to. And you have the nerve to call ME mentally ill, lol. You are flat out delusional, and it's made worse by the fact that you have no idea what you are talking about from a technical perspective.

The fact that you think a machine half as powerful as the rest in the bunch isn't holding back development of the other 2 shows your complete lack of technical knowledge... We already saw it with Switch... Microsoft is still trying to figure out how they can dumb down Call of Duty to run on it, for instance. This is a big reason why Switch misses out on many multiplatform titles.

Go crack open some books and get back to us when you have a clue.

[fr0sty]

And to answer your question (again, since you ignored it the first time)...

"I knew about all those links you posted. Notice how none of those links never answered the question. How does any of this effect PS5 like YOU claimed originally? "

If the game is also on PS5, and it is a multiplatform game that MUST run on all systems, then the feature gets dumbed down or removed from ALL versions, INCLUDING PS5. Feature parity is required if the game is on Xbox Series X, it must have equal features (we're not talking visuals, we're talking actual gameplay features).

This means that all levels designed have to fit in Series S memory. This means that all simulations must be computable by the Series S CPU/GPU, including physics. So yes, it DOES affect the PS5 version of the game as well.

Again, common sense. Multiplat games must cater to the lowest common denominator among them. Yet you're still trying to argue an illogical position.

[Lightning77]

Well I sacrificed enough of my brain cells talking to you.

Hang in there brain cells. My bad Pork.

"You are flat out delusional, and it's made worse by the fact that you have no idea what you are talking about from a technical perspective."

Wait what and you do!? Fantasizing over "features being cut" isn't Einstein lvl intellect. You clearly know nothing at all so you conjured up some hilarious take that some imaginary features are being cut because you want them to.

"Microsoft is still trying to figure out how they can dumb down Call of Duty to run on it, for instance."

That's some imagination. Of course based off of 0 evidence. Yes you are mentally VERY mentally ill. That illness is called fanboyism.

"If the game is also on PS5, and it is a multiplatform game that MUST run on all systems, then the feature gets dumbed down or removed from ALL versions, INCLUDING PS5. Feature parity is required if the game is on Xbox Series X, it must have equal features (we're not talking visuals, we're talking actual gameplay features)."

You tried linking articles and failed because all that was pointing to trend S. Now you're just regurgitating the same stuff. "Oh but you'll never hear about it " goofiness. Again did the X1 gimp the PS4? Were there articles being made that they had to cut features from PS4 to have parity to Xbox? No there wasn't. For the millionth time if that were true article after, article, Jason Schreier would of blown the roof off that. Hell even the developers would blast MS for that. They would not hide something like that if their game is being hampered in any way possible by a weaker console. Having to cut features would be dreadfully unacceptable to developers.

I would say quit now and save yourself from embarrassment Doesn't matter you found your goofball narrative and will run with it. You'll run with it until the next consoles release and you'll have nothing to show for it just more hoping and wishing then you'll find another clown narrative to live by lol.

[fr0sty]

I love how you have nothing but personal attacks to offer against the points I'm making, other than the one "Did XBox One hold back PS4?", which is ridiculous in itself, as Xbox One wasn't (roughly) half the power of PS4 like Xbox Series S is PS5... The difference in power isn't even comparable, and only further shows how ridiculous your argument is. The difference between Xbox One and PS4 was mostly due to the limitations on the size of Xbox One's 32MB eSRAM frame buffer (if you even know what that is...), which affects rendering resolution only (which if you knew what a frame buffer was, you'd know that)... which is why developers had to get real creative in order to get native 1080p out of Xbox One (sometimes, other times they just dropped resolution as low as 720p or less, as not all games could be optimized that much)... it did not hold Xbox One back from things like memory, physics simulations, CPU power, GPU rendering power, etc... However, PS4 exclusives looked better than the best Xbox One games visually, because of the fact that it was (when we remove the frame buffer limitation from the equation) slightly more powerful than the Xbox One's GPU (though the CPU sucked for both).

The same cannot be said of Series S vs. PS5 or Series X... the difference in power is MASSIVE... It has effectively half the RAM at half the bandwidth, as 2GB of that 10GB is so ridiculously slow that it isn't even worth mentioning and is of little use other than running the OS. It has nearly half the number of GPU cores. We won't even mention the near half HDD bandwidth due to Series X having the same limitation... The CPU is the only part that is remotely comparable.

And funny that you keep conveniently ignoring the fact that we saw the same thing with Switch, both last gen and even more so this gen.... The difference in power is so great there that most devs are just opting to skip it entirely rather than try to make their game run on it, which is why you still can't play some of the world's most popular games, like Call of Duty, on Switch.

But keep on moving those goal posts while proclaiming you are right. Like playing chess with a pigeon, you knock over all the pieces, crap on the board, then strut around like you won.

[Aloymetal]

It's the only way for MS/Xbox to reach their average per gen magical number of 50mil units sold. Double dip is the name of the game.

[Eonjay]

Just on the storage situation by itself the Series S is the worst. You can argue that the switch is worse but the proprietary nature of the available solutions is specifically anti consumer especially given the small storage space you start with.

The article states that exclusive games are anti consumer (so Mario, Pokémon, WWS games. But without them then only the richest person in the room can compete. That is not pro consumer. It is anti competition.

[crazyCoconuts]

If it plays the same games more or less and it's not marketed as 4k, then customers aren't being deceived, they have choices. If they feel tricked they can return it.
The fact that lower income families can enjoy current games for a lower entry level cost cannot be ignored, regardless of what team you cheer for

[P_Bomb]

A few points repeat themselves. I’d prop up cloud saves for everyone as a good thing. Great thing even.

The controller is propped up but is a bit of a clicky toy imo. Feels cheap. Buy an Elite if you can afford it.

I wish swapping primaries wasn’t limited to 6 per year or whatever. It’s unlimited elsewhere. Hopefully that can be tweaked someday.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

Name 6 games worth buying into the ecosystem for.

[P_Bomb]

I’d give a whirl to Forza Horizon 5, Halo Infinite, Hi Fi Rush, Vampire Survivors, Killer Instinct, Roblox for the kids.

[SierraGuy]

He said worth buying.

[Lightning77]

@Staticall we got a catch! The wheel said "They'll release broken..." Because reasons... . Well I'll give you Starfield being buggy it is Bethesda after all lol.

They haven't release yet? Yeah And? That hasn't stopped ppl getting excited for God Of War Forspoken at the time, FF16, Spider-Man 2, TLOUS Factions or Wolverine which doesn't release until late next year or early 2025?

Everyone here is excite.

Hifi released the day it was announced (shadow dropped) that was all the rage for awhile where have you been? So January 25 is when Hi FI released. Forza 8 well we know what to expect from that.

[Lightning77]

@Everton so what are there rules you can't get excited for upcoming games now is that the new goal post around here? Don't you all literally get excited for all of Sony's upcoming line up? PSVR2 weren't you all crazy excited about it for a year or 2 until release? So what when Sony shows their announce games at their showcase you're gonna sit there and not get excited because "they're not out yet."

Very Goofy goal post.

Anyway Keep spinning the excuse wheel though.

I haven't heard any legit complaints yet. Not even close actually.

[shinoff2183]

P bomb. That doesn't sound like a good time at all

[P_Bomb]

@shinoff
I was pleasantly surprised. From the AAA pile, FH5 was a nice showpiece. Lotsa content and it looks like money.

From the indie pile, Vamp Survivors is addictive af and great for simple runs or longer grinds.

Roblox scratches that LBP itch on XB and has tons of user generated content that’s a fantastic online entry point for the younger crowd.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

I loved Hi Fi Rush, brilliant game… I would not buy a $500 console to play it.

[Lightning77]

"Can Xbox make games, or just buy them after they are 75% done already?"

Who cares how's it's done like seriously? I'm a gamer I play games. Idc if it's 1% or 99% MS that's just some useless made up internet accolade that fanboys came up with.

Who's gonna look at Redfall and say not buying it because MS didn't make it from the ground up? Nobody, nobody at all.

"Sony made great games that I am grateful for."

What? Who talks like that? Internet ppl are good balls lol.

@Israi It would be real interesting if it's still 3 months exclusive. If it is then that's how you do a real timed exclusive? Not lie and say it's timed for a year to only for it to never release anywhere else. Example? Kena was suppose to be timed yet no sign of an Xbox version. It just proves MS keeps to their word of timed exclusives.

[AndrewM]

@lightning

What do you mean who cares how it is done? If one way is bad for the games I like to play, then I care. Also if there were games I could of played but they were taken away from me, then I care. And I think there are a lot of people who can think for themselves on the matter, not just believe what they are told.

[Lightning77]

I'd say Forza, Redfall, Hi Fi, Starfield, Stalker 2 and Avowed early next year.

Now tell me why the games don't count because... Reasons, suddenly don't appeal to anyone, or the old classic MS didn't make those games so they don't count.

Spin the excuse wheel!

[P_Bomb]

I know Starfield is a controversial topic today BUT, I think it’s an important pillar for Xbox. I don’t have an issue with it being exclusive.

[staticall]

@Lightning77
Redfall, Starfield, Stalker 2 and Avowed are not released yet. They might release in a broken state (Starfield and Stalker 2 maybe) or be completely off from what was advertised (Avowed maybe, because it was rebooted).

Forza - yeah, Hi Fi - sure, if you like that kind of games. But don't recommend games that you haven't played yet, it's so weird.

[EvertonFC]

ONLY 2 of those games is.out ffs, think about it numpty.
Jeez are you OK?

[isarai]

Dont get why everyone keeps listing stalker 2 when it comes to xbox 1st party or exclusive subjects. It's a times exclusive...for 3 months

https://www.ign.com/article...

And avowed and Starfield arent even out yet, so how can you say they are worth buying an xbox for?

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

You don’t think it’s frustrating that Xbox has been promising that “the games ARE coming” for over a decade, and 5 of those 6 games you listed only have exclusivity with Xbox due to very recent acquisitions?

Were the games ever really coming?

Can Xbox make games, or just buy them after they are 75% done already?

Sony made great games that I am grateful for. Xbox hasn’t done that for me since Gears and Halo 3.

[staticall]

@Lightning77
> we got a catch! The wheel said "They'll release broken..."
Wow, just wow... Serious question - did you actually read what i've written? I'll quote:
«Redfall, Starfield, Stalker 2 and Avowed are not released yet. They might release in a broken state (Starfield and Stalker 2 maybe) or be completely off from what was advertised»
Not "They'll release broken...", but "are not released yet" (and giving reasons why not released yet might affect the purchase). You can be excited for those games all you want, no one is saying that you can't, but you don't buy into an ecosystem for a promise of games, do you?

> They haven't release yet? Yeah And?
And you're buying a console to do what exactly? Just be excited? Or to play already released games? Or promises of the bright future?

No one is saying you can't be excited for anything, come on, but advertising a console not for it's currently released games, but for some, that might be years away (Avowed) is, again, weird.

> Hifi released the day it was announced (shadow dropped) that was all the rage for awhile where have you been?
Sorry, what do you mean by that? I've said, Forza and Hi-Fi on your list are fine, they're already released (if you mean Forza Horizon 5, of course). I can play those games. Avowed, Starfield, Redfall, Stalker 2 - not so much.

That was the crux of my argument.

[Flakegriffin]

Stalker 2 isn’t even an Xbox exclusive as it was confirmed that it’s a 3 month TIMED exclusive. Weird when it’s timed on Xbox it’s okay with you. Avowed doesn’t even have a single release window or gameplay but you’re saying it’s worth buying? Why is it worth buying? What does Avowed have that makes it worth buying? We barely even have gameplay for Starfield. Even the launch trailer was just good ol lying Todd talking rather than proving.

Also, when did Xbox fans buy games? ;)

[Lightning77]

"Not "They'll release broken...", but "are not released yet"

Right after you said. "They might release in a broken state (Starfield and Stalker 2 maybe)"

You're either confused or you're backtracking now.

"> They haven't release yet? Yeah And?
And you're buying a console to do what exactly? Just be excited? Or to play already released games? Or promises of the bright future?"

Right because someone buys a console to do nothing on it except play exclusives only. According to this site all ppl play are exclusives and that's it at least that's what it sounds like. Wo Long, Wild Hearts, Monster Hunter, Guilty Gear, Atomic Heart, Hi Fi, Shadow Warrior 3 plus more are all just a click away. You act like ppl are bored or have nothing to play.

@Andrew well if it bothers you so much then by a PC or Xbox? Problem solved.

[CBaoth]

that's pitiful. Arguing semantics when you got called out for listing UNRELEASED games. Is the MS library that pathetic? You don't have to answer, it's a rhetorical question. I embarrassingly own a series X and an IndiePass sub.

[fr0sty]

Typical of him... pathetic. Logic means nothing to these types. I haven't seen this level of zealotry since the last time a particular politician had a rally.

[The3faces]

Built in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos are great also. The games look and sound incredible.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

Tempest engine uses ps4 graphics cards…. How does the Xbox sound card compare?

[Destiny1080]

did you notice the fees Dolby were starting to introduce, would you be happy to pay a yearly subscription to listen to Dolby Atmos, I'm very glad sony brought some much needed competition and the same with hdr10 a open standard which is also being actively improved with hdr10+ and the same with FSR another open standard

as great as dolby is, we need competition, and what better company then sony to make 3D audio for the PS5

[darkrider]

Darthv24 you are wrong. The series s just got 8 gigs for gaming and the Bandwith is much slower 326 g/ vs 224g/ , 386 bus vs 128. Must I go on? The only big advantage of the s is the cpu

[darthv72]

please do. As i said, the One X has more memory... that is something the SS can't make up for, unless maybe they used direct storage as a source of additional memory (like virtual memory) but otherwise that is the only key difference in the One X. The CPU/GPU are less efficient than the SS. It is why the SS can do stuff like ray tracing where the one X cannot. Or how it is able to play games at double the fps than the One X. Nearly every game that was offered a One x enhanced option does not run on the SS due to the memory issue I described. however, games that would then be offered a Series update would surpass the one X.

[darkrider]

Ray tracing on the s!!!! . Dude. It can't even run the majority of games at 1080p locked... . Talking about Ray tracing just shows how little you understand... Even the X and the ps5 barely can use it without huge problems on performance....

The s is a last gen console in term of performance. That's the reality we see game after game. That why all the problems it's having now

[jznrpg]

If it was so consumer friendly why is it so behind ? Because more consumers want PS and Nintendo. Being cheap doesn’t mean consumer friendly

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Really hard to tell unless it's hifi or starfield tbh

[franwex]

The series x is my primary console, but you know what would be really consumer friendly? Not having proprietary SSD.

[isarai]

In some ways yes, like the low price SerieS and Gamepass.
In other ways no, like the insanely overpriced storage expansion, and charging full price for a controller that doesn't even have a battery in it (if it were about "providing options" they would either charge less or include a rechargeable battery with it). Not to mention the broken state their games launch in, and all lacking content yet stuffed with microtransactions.

[SonyStyled]

Yea but considering a new series S are available for $150, I wouldn’t mind paying $50 a year from now for a used series s. For $51 one could play through the Xbox exclusives in a month and resell the series s for $40

[anast]

A game company that refuses to make quality new IPs for their costumers is the opposite of customer friendly. I am not sure the writer like gamers much.

[Elda]

Agreed.

[Elda]

Far as consumer friendly may be the price for the Series S which is cheap but you get what you pay for. Running AAA games on the S when it comes to visuals/resolution is not great at all, the very reason I traded my S for an X & the cost for the trade-in for me was dirt cheap. The Series X is the better console but now it just needs a consistent release of new interesting first-party releases to play. As of now (2023) GP isn't bad with having a couple of bigger budget multiplat titles such as Wo Long & Atomic Heart in its library with a few more multiplat titles to land this year on the service but again it needs some new first-party releases as well which Redfall will be a start this May.

[GamingSinceForever]

Consumer friendly yet the least purchased.
Why is that? Why does the general
public not understand this?

[ironmonkey]

last place isnt consumer friendly at all 2 years. it means something, noones buying it.

[Kekewei]

The design of xsx seems boring to me, especial the controller. But Starfield is coming, guess I have to get myself a xsx this year. Just hope Microsoft come up soon with their own solution of adaptive triggers and haptic feedback.

[UltimateOwnage]

Nice gaslighting. MS throwing that $$$$ around, same as always. MS is a services company now, that’s as anti-consumer as it gets. No ownership, no access without a sub to most of the essential features, always online, subscription fees for everything involved. Trash. I hope their hardware division folds and they are forced to go third party.

[TheEnigma313]

Buying publishers because they can't produce games from their 20 plus developers is quite consumer friendly.

[MrSec84]

Consumer friendly? When they buy up major publishing houses that make multiplatform games and force them to be exclusive to the XBox ecosystem when they were better established on PlayStation, with a larger paying audience.
Without ZeniMax becoming exclusive to XBox their games would have been on PlayStation, also if Nintendo had a powerful enough system then they would be on that platform too, as Nintendo has shown they can sell 3rd party games now on Nintendo systems.

The same is going to happen with Activision for games not in the COD deal.
Unless these platforms make their users pay for Gamepass.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

PS5 is lead platform so the Series S couldn’t dumb down games. They’d likely port the PS5 version to Series X which has RDNA2 hardware not being utilized because PS5 doesn’t have it then devs and scale it down for SS.

XB1 bring a POS never stopped devs from fully utilizing the PS4.

Anyway XSS-X are consumer friendly because:

Free cloud saves
Previous Gen controller still works
Controller for those with disabilities
GamePass is a bargain

[MaximusTKG]

The only problem with it being so user friendly is there are no games to use it with. I have had game pass for a year and still don’t turn my Xbox on. I wish they would give me a reason to honestly, I look at it with sadness as I turn on my PlayStation.

[CptDville]

MS is so friendly that that it stopped selling ANY physical media in my country! Now the Xbox Series X I own will retain its Blu-ray at mint condition.
TY M$!