The PS5 and Xbox Series X/S thread

New Xbox console? Not a whole lot to go on but I'm not really sure what to think of this, they absolutely shit the bed this gen, and I'm hearing the new woman in charge is big on AI, guess I'm just surprised it's a thing at all

They’ve more or less confirmed now that it’ll be an Xbox/PC hybrid, which is what everyone was expecting anyway.

I’m not sure they’ve been as terrible this gen as everyone has made out. The hardware is great, cloud streaming is solid, 99% of games get released on it and I still think Game Pass has been brilliant. I don’t feel like I’ve missed out this gen at all by going Xbox, all I see from Sony are sequels and remakes these days anyway.

I'm glad I got a Series X at launch—the back compatibility with my 360 library, plus options for stuff I missed on Xbone—but I'd struggle to recommend buying one at this stage of the generation, and I don't even have (or particularly want, for the same reasons Gar mentioned above) a PS5.

And while GamePass has been great from a consumer perspective (though I'm not quite willing to compare the cost of stuff I actually played vs. the total subscription cost), there's not much doubt in my mind that it's been a financial black hole for MS, and I'd be surprised to see it continue, in its current form at least, into the next generation.

I’m sure that’s the case. In the entire time I’ve had a One X/Series X I’ve paid literally one pound for Game Pass which was the introductory offer in (I think) 2018. Everything since has been funded entirely by Microsoft’s own Rewards system, which was for a while insanely generous and is still now pretty good. That’s a hell of a lot of gaming for effectively zero outlay, it’s no wonder I’m well disposed towards the system.

I did consider going XBOX again earlier this gen, but I still can’t get access to my old account, irritatingly. It is now (horrifyingly) almost two decades since I had an XBOX, so I don’t expect to be able to resolve that anytime soon either.

I’ve now happily settled into the Sony and Nintendo ecosystems, and adore both my PS5 and Switch 2, so I’m happy enough without. Also, while I appreciate that none of these companies are exactly saintly, I’m unwilling to give Microsoft any money at all at the moment, given their role in current events, so for the time being I remain unmoved.

I have looked at getting a second unit to have in my cellar/gaming space. But they are just so stupidly expensive. The Digital PS5 is currently up on a few ebay sites refurbished for about £280. And you can then add a cd drive to that.

The cheapest Series X I can find is also refurbished and is £380 and is the locked off non disc version. New you can't get one for less than £479.99 it seems.

It has been a very weird generation. The first few years were dominated by cross-generation games to the extent that plenty of people never bothered to upgrade at all, and now, five years in, things are getting more expensive rather than less. I'm not sure how much appetite there is long-term for £70 games on £700 consoles, or subscriptions at over £20 per month, but that's the way we are going.

Given the backlog of retro titles I own I would cancel my GamePass if it wasn't so used by my kid. If it gets any more expensive next year I will be giving it serious consideration for cancelling.