- The console war is finally over.
Is it worth getting an Xbox in 2024?
Xbox, one of the Holy Trinity
of gaming consoles
has been in the news a little bit more
than they'd like lately.
And depending on where you stand on gaming,
you could either be really excited
or ready to throw your Xbox out the window.
Now, before we get to the headlines,
I think it would be fair to check in
on the current lineup of consoles.
The Xbox Series X and S
were released side by side in late 2020.
At the time, the Xbox Series X,
despite having pretty similar hardware
to its main competitor, the PS5,
barely edged it out in specs,
making it technically
the most powerful home gaming console
ever released.
Not like Sony's coming back
to take that crown or anything, though.
That's a lot to live up to,
but Xbox had a lot to prove.
Not only did Sony
absolutely destroy Xbox last generation
with PS4 and Xbox One,
but Sony console sales have pretty consistently
beat Xbox in every generation.
So it really seemed like this time around
Xbox needed a win.
Unfortunately,
while critics love their hardware,
the games available at launch
couldn't deliver that
"must have the newest hardware" vibe
or the "I gotta pay a scalper
$800 for this (beep)?" vibe.
That was the vibe
that I think most people had actually
in 2020.
The majority of Xbox launch titles
couldn't really take advantage
of the new hardware,
or were largely just upgrades
from the Xbox One versions of the game.
The biggest blow
was the fact that "Halo Infinite,"
which was supposed to be the big launch title,
was delayed by more than a year.
Yeah.
One of the biggest reasons
to get one console over the other
has always been exclusive games.
This is where Sony has had a massive advantage
over Xbox for years.
So it's not surprising
that the lack of launch momentum
combined with the pandemic choking manufacturing
has resulted in the PS5
outselling the Xbox Series
over two-to-one at this point.
So is that it?
Is the console war over
before it even began this generation?
Well, if you only look at sales,
it might look like it,
but that is only half of the story.
Xbox have always done their own thing,
from controller designs
that never seem to change,
to still using AA batteries
to backwards compatibility
being a staple for the brand.
I mean, Xbox have always tried
to find their unique angle in the gaming space.
With the price of consoles climbing ever higher,
and this latest generation
hitting an eye-watering $500 at launch,
they figured that there would be a lot of gamers
who don't necessarily need 4K 120Hz gaming
that the Series X would be aiming for.
So they released a more budget friendly,
all digital console,
the Xbox Series S,
at almost half the price.
Now, if you've been watching
the channel for a while,
you know that every time
I try to do some kind of budget gaming challenge,
the answer is usually
just get a Series S.
I mean, it's a tiny little machine
that can run current-gen games
for only 300 bucks,
and it is often on sale
for much less than that.
Even though it's technically capable of 4K 120,
the Series S usually targets
between 1080p and 1440
at either 30 or 60 FPS.
That isn't just marketing hype though.
I mean, a lot of people
when the Series S was first launched,
would assume that it was going
to hold the generation back,
that it would buckle under the pressure
of the latest and greatest games.
But surprisingly,
the Series S
is the little engine that could.
"I think I could play 4K,
I think I could play 1440p,
I think I could play 'Forza.'
Ray-tracing!"
Even on "Starfield,"
the long awaited
and graphically intense Bethesda game
that everybody loves,
a little bit of a trend for Xbox exclusives,
as you'll find,
it runs at a respectable 1440p
on the Series S
and is locked at 30 FPS,
the same frame rate
as that Xbox Series X.
I mean, you really can't get,
in my opinion,
a better gaming experience for the price.
It's probably why the Series S
makes up over 70% of the current gen Xbox sales.
Also, did I mention
that it's all digital?
Yeah, that part might come up a little later on.
But we really can't talk about Xbox
without talking about Game Pass.
Way back in 2017,
inspired by the success of Netflix and Spotify,
Xbox thought,
why can't we do the same thing with gaming?
Understandably, game studios
who love to sell you a $60 title
didn't have a lot of interest
in undervaluing their software.
So Game Pass launched
with only a handful of older games,
really more so as a proof of concept.
Originally released just for the Xbox diehards,
the service has slowly picked up steam
over the years.
Other first-party titles
such as "Halo" and "Forza"
were added to the service,
and it became more and more popular.
To developers,
Xbox justified it
as a way to increase player counts,
keep interest in games for longer,
and importantly,
incentivizing in-game purchases.
Eventually, Game Pass
became widely available to all players
with a library of over 100 Xbox games
across generations at just $10 a month.
Now, let me just reiterate that.
All those games are included
for just $10 a month.
I mean, it really was
a bit of a no-brainer for gamers
to jump on Game Pass.
That's essentially the price
of two new Xbox games a year.
Instead, you get over 100 games
with new titles always being added.
The real icing on the cake
was first-party games on launch day,
something that another competitor
could consider for their service.
(coughing) Sony.
(coughing) PlayStation.
If a Game Pass game isn't for you,
just uninstall it
and try something else.
But that was not Game Pass's final form.
Game Pass Ultimate arrived a little while ago,
and it combined the game service for Xbox,
added PC support,
and include Xbox Live,
making it the game subscription juggernaut
that it is today
for just $15 a month.
Now it's seen a slight price hike since launch,
so it's now $17 per month.
But by most standards,
Game Pass is a success.
When "Halo Infinite"
finally made its way onto Game Pass,
it had a 20 million player launch,
which was at the time,
the biggest launch in Xbox Game Studio's history.
You gotta assume
that a ton of those gamers
would not have paid full price for "Halo,"
and instead wanted to hop in
and enjoy whatever Master Cheeks
is up to these days.
I'm sorry.
I didn't mean to do that.
I just couldn't-
It was right there.
I just couldn't reach out, but.
Reach out and touch it.
Remember when I was talking
about Xbox's Achilles heel
being the lack of exclusive games?
Well, Microsoft in recent years
has spent a combined $80 billion
to acquire game studios such as Bethesda,
Activision, Blizzard,
King, Mojang,
and Rare.
These are some of the heaviest hitters
in the gaming industry
who are responsible for games
such as "Call of Duty,"
"Minecraft," "Fallout,"
"Elder Scrolls."
Look, here's the thing,
Microsoft means business,
and they're clearly not afraid
of spending an enormous fortune
to gain that dominance.
So Game Pass is clearly
Xbox's big brain move, right?
Considering that there are over
34 million Game Pass subscribers,
it does seem like the logical path forward.
If Xbox can't outsell Sony in terms of hardware,
it would make sense
to try to beat them with software,
which let's not forget
is where the actual money is.
Trust me when I say
no one is getting rich
selling you a $250 Xbox Series S.
Xbox clearly had a vision for Game Pass
and stated all the way back in 2019,
that quote,
"We want to bring Game Pass
to any device that somebody wants to play on."
Even in 2024,
it is clear that Xbox views Game Pass
as the core Xbox experience.
- And the fact that you get entitlements
when you buy a game from us
on both Windows and Xbox
also means you have the ability to play that game
across a multitude of devices,
which I think furthers the compatibility
of the games that you own.
- So far,
he has been true to his word.
You can play Game Pass on Xbox and PCs,
with the addition of cloud gaming,
you can also have Game Pass on Chromebooks,
phones, tablets,
handhelds, VR headsets,
even smart TVs.
What about Xbox on PlayStation?
Ooh, spicy.
Xbox has announced exclusives
such as "Sea of Thieves" and "Hi-Fi Rush"
are coming to both PlayStation and Switch,
and rumors that major titles
such as "Halo" and "Gears of War"
will join them at some point.
But wait, you might say,
didn't Microsoft just spend $80 billion
to acquire more exclusives?
Well, yeah,
but Game Pass growth,
much like other subscription models,
relies heavily on constantly adding new content,
not just to keep gamers engaged,
but also to keep the hype going.
Much like the Austin Evans YouTube channel
constantly delivers
super high quality content
directly to your subscription feed
for the low, low price
of just 6,99 a month.
What was that?
Oh, is it free?
Oh, act now!
Right now!
Immediately!
What are you waiting for?
Subscriptions to the Austin Evans
streaming service at YouTube.com/AustinEvans
are free.
What a bargain?
Bethesda "Starfield" was supposed to be
the huge game launch
that really kept the hype going for Game Pass,
but it was delayed by,
surprise, surprise,
almost a year,
leaving a 15 month content gap
between exclusives
early in the Series X generation.
Phil Spencer has admitted
that that did throw Game Pass growth off.
Although he didn't give us exact numbers
on how bad it was,
so the speculation,
and I'll say it is kind of speculation,
is that by plugging Xbox exclusives
into other platforms,
they can make up for some of that lost growth
in other ways.
It definitely does feel like the end of an era
for Xbox exclusives, though.
Even PlayStation,
which is notorious
for keeping exclusives to themselves,
has started to seed them
to other platforms like PC,
although not Xbox yet.
Funny how that works.
If it seems like all this
is leading up to Xbox
being all in on Game Pass
and game streaming and subscription,
it's because they are.
Now, does that mean
that Xbox as a console is dead?
Well, according
to one of the biggest leaks in gaming history,
I wouldn't count on it.
At the end of 2023,
Xbox's future roadmap
laying out the next five years was leaked,
complete with documents
describing the next Xbox console.
Code named "Brooklin,"
it is a Series X refresh
similar to what we saw
with the mid-cycle PS5 Slim.
We'll likely be looking at more internal storage,
faster Wifi,
and better power efficiency.
And the document
clearly labeled "Brooklin"
is "adorably all digital."
Gross.
Obviously that raised a lot of questions
about the future of physical media.
A lot of people are rightly upset
that their library of discs
might soon be worthless.
Just a relic lost to Microsoft's greed.
Plus, a lot of AI.
Mercifully, though,
Xbox does have an answer.
In a recent interview,
Phil Spencer said,
"Gaming consoles themselves
have become the last consumer electronic device
that has a drive.
This is a real issue,
just in terms of the number of manufacturers
that are actually building drives
and the cost associated with those."
Okay, hold on, hold on,
hold on a second, Phil.
That's not making me feel any better.
But then he quickly added,
"Getting rid of physical,
that's not a strategic thing for us."
Damn, Phil,
you scared me there for a second.
That being said,
it doesn't really guarantee
that physical media like discs
are here to stay.
Let's be real.
Physical media is on its way out everywhere
besides maybe at Nintendo.
And Xbox could easily change their mind
at any time.
It could mean that discs
only come in deluxe versions of the game
that cost three times as much as the base game.
It could mean that the Xbox only has access
to an external disc drive.
Who knows?
In regards to the roadmap leak,
Xbox has said that,
"Many of the documents
are well over a year old
and our plans have evolved."
If that's true,
and I'd certainly give them
the benefit of the doubt here,
I would take anything as part of this leak
with a huge grain of salt,
especially the AI and cloud hybrid stuff.
I mean, honestly,
tech in that area is advancing so fast
that I wouldn't be surprised
if they're not only
constantly revising their plans,
but also just trying to figure out
how it fits into
their "Xbox Everywhere" strategy.
I mean, Microsoft
are almost certainly well underway
of developing the next generation
of Xbox right now.
That being said,
I would be surprised if Brooklin,
which based on these documents,
is slated to be released at the end of 2024,
undergoes any significant changes.
I mean, just the design,
the supply chain planning,
the manufacturing alone,
that has to be planned out way in advance.
If they have any intention of a 2024 release,
they should pretty much be ready
to start making these damn things.
The controller is another part of the leak
that likely won't be changed much.
Code named "Sebile,"
this controller is the biggest change,
supposedly,
that they've done since the Elite controller.
But unlike the Elite controller,
which was a premium add-on,
Sebile will replace
the standard Xbox controller.
Now, looking at the specs,
it definitely gives the vibe
that someone over at Microsoft HQ
picked up a DualSense and went,
"Oh, (censored)!"
That's what I did.
Supposedly including much better haptics,
better thumbsticks,
and cloud features,
if this controller is anything like the leak,
I will say it actually might be
the bigger upgrade we see in 2024.
So there we have it.
Xbox's master plan.
It is pretty clear
that Xbox's strategy moving forward
will be to focus on digital services and content.
Less of the focus seems like it will be
on hardware and exclusivity,
and it's gonna be more about
being everywhere that you could possibly imagine.
I mean, I wouldn't be surprised
if we could play Game Pass
on a fricking Samsung fridge soon.
With that all being in mind,
does it make sense
to even buy Xbox Hardware in 2024?
If you need a way to play current gen games
for pretty cheap,
the Series S is still
one of the best options there is
and is routinely on sale for, again,
way less than that $300 MSRP.
If you're holding out
for the Brooklin Xbox Series X refresh,
it's probably not going to be
that big of an upgrade over the normal Series X,
especially now that this guy
is routinely on sale now.
And if you believe the leaks,
it also might be one of the final ways
to play that massive disc library
you've been hoarding
or if you wanna pick up
some older generation titles
for a few bucks on disc.
Now, if you're worried
that Xbox will ditch consoles overnight,
don't be.
Look, even if software is the future,
and I do believe that it is,
they still have a ton of incentive
to keep their own hardware around.
As far as Xbox going all in on a digital future,
that will probably take a while,
in my opinion.
Certainly not this generation.
But if you are looking toward the future,
it might be a better move
to take the money that you'd spend
on that shiny new Series X
and upgrade your PC.
Not only would you get way more performance,
but if Game Pass is going to be
the core Xbox experience moving forward,
you're pretty much getting
the best of both worlds,
and a bunch of PlayStation games.
Or you could wait for the Switch 2.