Australian telecoms company Telstra has texted their customers to inform them that pre-orders for Microsoft’s next console, the Xbox Series X, will be going live “soon”. An image posted on Reddit shows the text that has been sent out and it has been confirmed by multiple people across Reddit.
For pre-orders to go live that means the big question must be answered – how much will an Xbox Series X cost?
Microsoft’s Phil Spencer has confirmed that the company will be talking more about the console this month. In an interview with iJustine he said “I am encouraged to be able to talk more about our plans… Should be August. I think August we’ll have more to say.”
Rumours of a PlayStation event this month are also swirling around and traditionally August is the month that pre-orders for the next generation of consoles goes live so there is a good run up to launch. It is said the PlayStation event will occur sometime between 5th and 11th August but as we have seen in recent months the dates for next gen reveals are rather fluid and can change at a moment’s notice.
Microsoft and Sony are essentially playing chicken, who is going to go first and reveal the price of their console? Whoever it is will be at a disadvantage, both firms will have a number of prices in mind, from a low price that means they make a loss on each console, or a higher price where they break even, once one of them has revealed their price the other can juggle their numbers and see if they can make their product look more attractive.
Jeff Grub has hinted that Microsoft and Sony will be holding events this month.
I have found the obelisk hidden within Jeff Grubb's Summer Game Mess, and I now travel the universe reborn in the light of video games. It kinda sucks. pic.twitter.com/Q1rS5baY3K
— grubbsnax is back (@JeffGrubb) July 31, 2020
Gabe Newell, head honcho at Valve, has stated Xbox Series X is better than PlayStation 5, but then doesn’t explain why, just “cos it is”. However, customers in the UK seem to favour PS5 over Xbox Series X.
Source: Reddit
camdaz
I wonder if MS will officially unveil the XSS at the same time. If the Series S does exist they will need to let folk know so they can decide which next gen Xbox to pre-order.
Sony may have something up their sleeve as a patent has been revealed about how a games console can run with two APUs/Socs. Far too early to get excited about it as a fair majority of patents don’t result in consumer products.
MrYd
That patent is a bit odd. It actually mentions “plural SoCs” for a “high-end” version, so 2 or more. And “at least a second GPU”. But as you say, don’t get excited about it just yet. And I think it’s one of those “let’s take something obvious and make it just specific enough so we can get a patent just in case we need it later” type thing. PCs have been able to connect 2 or more GPUs for ages. Currently, it’s probably not really worth doing in most situations. You’re not going to get twice the performance from 2 GPUs and you’re probably better off putting the money for the 2nd GPU into a single, better GPU.
So I doubt anything will ever come of it for consoles. Probably in 2 or 3 years time they’ll be thinking about it and decide just to go for a single faster thing instead for a PS5 Pro.
I still think a Series S might turn out to be a disaster for MS though if it’s too cheap. Or it would be if MS were playing the same game as Sony and weren’t moving to a single XBox brand covering the Series X, probable Series S, PC and streaming and tying it all to subscriptions. They’ll sell lots of Game Pass subscriptions, a bunch of Series S consoles, Sony will sell even more PS5s and Gabe Newell will buy a Series X, because reasons.
camdaz
I think MS could confuse folk with the XSX and XSS.
I’ve also noticed that MS has stopped advertising the XSX as the most powerful console in the world and instead now say the most powerful Xbox ever.
MrYd
MS are now saying both “our most powerful console ever” and also “The most powerful console ever”. (It’s on https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/consoles/xbox-series-x)
Which is a somewhat confusing message.
Actually, that whole page is all a bit confusing and desperate. Making a point that you’ve “partnered with the HDMI forum” when that just means “using the standards that everyone else is”? And the whole 120FPS thing, which is going to be for a tiny handful of games that an even smaller set of people will ever benefit from.
Starting to wonder if they were hoping Sony would announce 2 versions of the PS5. Well, they did, but they’re the same apart from 1 missing feature. Were MS hoping they could beat Sony on price with the Series X and the presumed Series S? Or just the Series S? A PS5 right between the 2 MS prices would be guaranteed to sell more.
Who’s going to blink first? If it’s Sony, I suspect MS are almost 100% going to be cheaper. If it’s MS, it could go either way. Possibly with the Series X being priced between the 2 PS5s?
Unless MS announce the Series S and a digital version 2 and really confuse things. You can’t really tell what’s going to happen with the way this year’s going, can you?
camdaz
MS are certainly up to something, withdrawing the 12 months Xbox Live Gold and rumours about XSX online play being free. Then there’s Game Pass and xCloud, it’s going to be interesting how they bundle things together and how it will effect Sony and PS+.
It’s going to be an interesting few months ahead.