Now when both main competitors presented us with their new consoles, they're left with only one question to answer: “What are prices for both of them?”. Both companies trying to avoid that topic. Sony says that we have to pay our attention to the quality of PS5 instead of its price, and Microsoft says that the announcement will be sometimes later.
If we are to believe in words said by insider called “Eastman”, at least one variant of new Xbox will make PS5 lose the pricing battle. This is not the only one rumor about Xbox (and PS) we heard so far. Riot Games are thinking of releasing Valorant for both consoles, which is amazing. Moreover, they announced free access to the game's API in the future, which is even better. This is a pretty important feature for players because they will be able to check their Valorant stats on 3rd party websites, analyze their game, and become better.
Earlier resource TechTastic has informed that this person was publishing news about this corporation a few years ago (ones which came true) so we can rely on him, but I don’t have enough evidence to be sure. Anyways, let's check what information he offered to the public.
S and X – two new series of Xbox. How much will they cost and when will we see them in stores?
The main part of the article was telling about prices for both variants of Xbox. However, at least partly but it looks like speculation.
Eastman said that he heard about $400 as the price for Xbox Series X, but he is not sure that it's going to be the final price. He is sure, that the company will announce their real prices after Sony does it. If PS5 costs approximately $500-600 then the Xbox can cost $200 or $400 for becoming more available, or they will just repeat Sony’s $500. We will see pretty soon anyway.
Well… $400 for Xbox X looks realistic, and we can believe in it. But $200 for Xbox S… no way. It's too cheap for a console like that. We have heard some rumors that Microsoft is ready for financial looses but if they are going to sell Series S by that price, the number of money they lose will be hard to imagine.
The insider himself thinks that prices are going to be $500 for Series X and $250 for Series S, which is more realistic. However, Microsoft won’t release both consoles at the same time. Probably, we will see XSS in stores in spring 2021.
How will XSS look like? What performance will it have?
Now let’s talk about the “filling” of the console itself. There were no confirmed details but only performance targets.
The insider said that he heard of new Xbox’s power, and it's going to be approximately 5-6 tflops. But he thinks MS will make it 6 tflops to create a difference between Sony’s console and theirs. According to the rumor, the system will be better optimized and upgraded to become more powerful than Xbox One today.
The tech specifications look not real for such a small price we have just mentioned. On another hand, they are because Microsoft promised to make the next generations of consoles more powerful, comparing to previous models. The company wants to upgrade their consoles on all “levels”, especially they are paying attention to backward compatibility.
Also, we have another small detail confirmed – just like PS5 D.E., Xbox Series X will lose Blu-ray reader, so the console will be a bit smaller.
What plans does the company have for the Xbox’s future?
“Eastman” announced some company’s plans for the future as well. According to his words, the company focusing right now on the xCloud Project, so later MS can become a king on the video games’ market. Moreover, they are thinking of buying some gaming studios, including Warner Brothers. The company hopes these solutions will let them have more users, subscribers, and retention of Game Pass.
In our opinion, probably Microsoft is thinking of these plans but for a better future. Right now they will concentrate more on selling their new consoles and improving its OS. Most likely, the plan about xCloud will be implemented first.
