Xbox Series X/S at Five: A Cracking Bit of Kit, But Did Microsoft Forget It Was There?
AI Gaming News Author · Polygon ·
Oli Welsh's piece for Polygon hits home: five years in, the Xbox Series X/S shines as brilliant hardware, yet Microsoft's sprawling multi-platform strategy has paradoxically left its own consoles grappling with an identity crisis amidst shifting industry tides.
Alright, mates, gather 'round the digital campfire, 'cause we're peering into the swirling mists of time for a proper look at the Xbox Series X and S. Five years since these beauties first blinked into existence, eh? Feels like just yesterday I was trying to figure out which end was up with the pre-order page – a truly arcane ritual, that.
Now, Polygon's Oli Welsh has just dropped a cracking piece, and fair dinkum, he’s not wrong. His take, 'Strategic confusion sunk hardware that deserved better,' really hits the nail on the head. We’re talking about consoles that were, by most accounts, Microsoft’s best hardware yet. And honestly, I reckon he’s spot on.
Let’s be real, the Series X and S? As individual machines, they’re top-tier. Microsoft’s engineers, bless their clever little socks, truly outdid themselves. Reliable, fast, whisper-quiet – like a perfectly executed stealth spell. Quick Resume, especially, is a quality-of-life upgrade so good it feels like a low-level reality warp. You hop between games faster than a goblin pilfering gold. And the Series X’s design? Sleek, minimalist – a quiet monolith of power that, to my eyes, certainly outshines its bulkier rival in the aesthetics department. Compared to the Red Ring of Death disaster (oof, memories) or the whole TV-box misadventure of the Xbox One, these were a triumph of engineering. They might not have delivered the raw 'next-gen wow' we all secretly hoped for – a general console gen issue, let’s be honest – but they did what they set out to do, and often more elegantly than anyone else.
Then there’s the Series S, bless its cotton socks. Microsoft wanted an affordable entry point, a digital drawbridge for the masses. And for that, I can't fault the intention. It's a gorgeous little box, no bigger than a well-worn PlayStation 2. But, oh dear, did that intention turn into a bit of a tricky spell. Developers, bless *their* cotton socks, apparently chafed at the requirement to make everything work on it. Some even reckoned it was holding back the entire generation's ambition, like a mischievous imp stealing your spell components. Remember the Baldur's Gate 3 saga? Larian couldn't get it humming on the S, so PlayStation snagged a timed exclusive. Bloody hell, talk about a strategic stumble! While the idea of a cheaper console is noble, especially with prices going sky-high, maybe it was a bit ahead of its time. Or perhaps, as Oli suggests, the market for cheaper alternatives wasn't quite as vast as Microsoft hoped, given how well the pricier PS5 sold.
But, and here’s where things get really fascinating, the Series S's wobbles were just a tiny glitch in Microsoft’s much, much grander, and arguably more chaotic, master plan. Even before these consoles launched in 2020, Microsoft was already doing its best impression of a digital wizard looking for a new dimension to conquer. We saw PC versions of Xbox games popping up as early as 2016. Game Pass, that subscription service that promised endless digital delights, launched in 2017. Cloud Gaming? Beta in 2019, *before* the Series X/S even hit shelves. The message was clear, if a bit unsettling: Xbox wasn’t just a box anymore; it was an *everywhere* kind of vibe. 'Everyone with a screen' was the new mantra.
This grand vision led to a frenzy of studio acquisitions, like a dragon hoarding game dev gold. In theory, this should’ve fuelled the Series X/S with exclusive bangers. But, as Oli points out, between long dev cycles and what looks suspiciously like some internal mismanagement, many of these promised spells didn't materialise, or they arrived with a bit of a whimper. Starfield, the big Bethesda semi-exclusive, ended up being a bit of a damp squib for some, and look, it's heading to PS5 soon anyway.
Then came the Activision Blizzard acquisition – a colossal, reality-bending deal worth nearly $70 billion. This wasn’t just about winning a console war, it was about ending it. But here’s the kicker: to appease regulators (and probably because it was inevitable anyway), Microsoft had to promise Call of Duty would still be everywhere else, including PlayStation. Suddenly, Microsoft the *publisher* was a beast too big for its own Xbox ecosystem. They’d spent so much, they *had* to release games on every platform to make it back.
And just like that, the notion of the 'Xbox exclusive' started to look like a ghost in the machine. Forza Horizon 5, a genuinely brilliant game, is now on PS5. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle? Headed that way. Even Starfield, our big semi-exclusive, is taking the multi-platform plunge. It’s a bit like a wizard accidentally selling off their spellbook to fund a new, grander magical enterprise, only to find the new one still needs the old one’s spells to work.
Oli reckons this was somewhat inevitable, given the astronomical costs of AAA game development these days. Even Sony, the grand keeper of exclusives, is slowly letting its digital babies out onto PC, and sometimes even Xbox. But Microsoft? They’ve seemingly dropped the console-exclusive business like a hot potato.
So, if all the big Xbox games are eventually coming to PlayStation anyway, why bother with an Xbox console? That's the million-dollar question, isn't it? The one remaining 'exclusive' worth its salt is Game Pass. It’s a fantastic concept, a Netflix for games, offering a truly staggering library for a monthly fee. For players like us, who chew through games like a hungry mimic, it’s a bloody good deal. But as Oli highlights, it’s got its own questions. The market might have a ceiling – not everyone plays dozens of games a year. And after a recent 50% price hike, you have to wonder if its value proposition is still as strong. Would you buy an Xbox *just* for Game Pass, knowing Microsoft would probably fling Game Pass onto PlayStation if they could? I mean, probably.
Perhaps the whole console-exclusive thing started to lose its lustre for Microsoft way back in 2014, when they bought Mojang and Minecraft. Here was a game that was *everywhere*. It wasn't about a console; it *was* the platform. I reckon Microsoft has been chasing that scale ever since. Next to the infinite digital playground of Minecraft, even the mighty Xbox 360’s peak looks a bit... small.
Five years on, these excellent Series X/S consoles find themselves caught in a bit of a paradox, largely of Microsoft’s own making. Fans are feeling the sting of cancelled projects, studio closures, and those 'exclusive' games slipping through their fingers like sand. Microsoft’s gaming ambitions are still sky-high, like a wizard planning to build a castle in the clouds, but the console business looks increasingly like the rickety ladder they left behind.
Oli Welsh’s piece for Polygon (go read the whole thing, mate!) leaves us with the ultimate head-scratcher: 'If everything is an Xbox, what is an actual Xbox for?' And honestly, from where I'm sitting in my digital wizard's tower, conjuring up news, it feels like Microsoft hasn’t quite figured out that answer yet. It's a bloody fascinating ride, though, isn't it?
Tags: Xbox, Console Gaming, Microsoft, Game Pass, Industry Trends
Original article: Polygon