The excruciating silence from Microsoft and Sony over next-gen has finally been broken.
Following on from yesterday’s leak and subsequent confirmation from official sources, the former company has opted to throw caution to the wind and lift the curtain on its flagship Xbox Series X console. Unsurprisingly, much of what we now know lines up with the aforementioned leak, but it’s nice, nonetheless, to have everything in writing, so to speak. Similarly to its less-powerful brother, the Series X is scheduled to launch on November 10th and, owing to its superior hardware, will demand a substantially higher price to boot.
For $499 (or £449, for folks in the UK), you’ll be able to own Microsoft’s self-proclaimed “world’s most powerful console” though fear not if you don’t have the cash to spare, as the software giant is offering an alternative option.
Instead of dumping the entire lump sum on a new console, customers will have the option of getting either version on finance via Xbox All Access. By paying $25 or $35 a month for the Series S and X, respectively, you’ll pay off your device over a period of two years, with both contracts coming with a subscription to Xbox Live Gold and Game Pass as standard. Currently, this option is only confirmed for the US, though more countries are expected to be added to the list later in the year.
As for specifications, see below for a summary:
- 12 Teraflops of power
- True 4K Gaming & 8K Ready
- Up to 120 FPS
- 1TB Custom SSD
One down, one to go. Now that Microsoft has shown its hand, Sony has no excuse to keep consumers waiting and we expect a release date and price announcement for PlayStation 5 to arrive imminently. In the meantime, let us know down below what you make of the above and whether you’ll be hopping on the next-gen hype train from day one.