Will the XSS outsell the XSX or nah

  • YES

    Votes: 1,720 77.0%
  • NO

    Votes: 514 23.0%

  • Total voters
    2,234

SunBroDave

"This guy are sick"
Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,345
It's cheaper and most people don't care about resolution, even among "hardcore" gamers like forum posters, influencers, and journalists. So yes
 

RowdyReverb

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,948
Austin, TX
Price is the number 1 factor every single console gen. It will sell a ton, but generate less enthusiasm from enthusiasts, just like the iPhone SE
 
Oct 29, 2017
941
Australia
200 bucks is nothing in the grand scheme of things. It only matters for parents being cheapskates when it comes to gifts.

Ppl buy ridiculously expensive phones every couple years without even considering the lesser brands. I feel like consumers are in a different mindset now compared to previous generations.
 

TechnicPuppet

Member
Oct 28, 2017
10,879
I think if MS are a little bit lucky and with good marketing it's lightning in a bottle for them.

It's also a console that's going to be hitting crazy numbers during big sale says. I do think it will be the best seller.
 

OldBenKenobi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,704
I have buddies still on their PS4/Xbox Ones who never upgraded to the Pro/X models this gen. I feel like the Series S will be perfect for these guys because theyre the Fortnite/ Fifa/COD/NBA2k crowd. Most of them also have families with kids so Do I see them paying $500 for a console in this pandemic? Nah. I feel these are the majority of people who buy the cheaper model of things while the more expensive options are not as popular.

Obviously this is only my example amongst like 8 of us but I feel if MS markets the S right in this day and age, they can sell this system like hotcakes, disc drive or not.
 

AntiMacro

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,157
Alberta
Yes. I think it won't be as big as it normally would be, thanks to All Access making the higher end SKU more affordable, but it'll still get outsold.
 

Cipherr

Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,515
The average gamer has never been as obsessed with power as the hardcore. History has shown us that time and time again. If power dominated the conversation the Wii,Switch wouldnt have done as well as they did and are doing; and more of the most powerful consoles would have been the highest selling of their generation. This isn't the case.

If anything, I expect the cheaper one that can be financed monthly to blow the others away, assuming the availability is wide enough.
 

PucePikmin

Member
Apr 26, 2018
3,912
Not much of a choice if you are looking for a new TV.

So why are you getting a new TV at all if you don't care about the new technology? Stick with your current TV.

I mean, I suppose there are people out there who a) dropped their TV out the window or whatever and needed a replacement, b) literally couldn't find a non-4K TV in any store, and c) bought that TV without researching or caring about the tech at all, but do you really think those people are a majority? Especially amongst gamers? Most people who just spent a $1000-plus on a 4K TV want 4K content for it.
 

deepFlaw

Knights of Favonius World Tour '21
Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,553
I voted Yes, and then read through the thread and changed to No. I can't really agree with some of the arguments being made.

I think a lot of "non-enthusiasts" care about power more than you'd think - probably care more than I do, honestly - but just not in the same terms you do. People will care about not having something decently weaker than what's also available, especially with the PS5 also coming out. I also think people will be wary of it lacking a disk drive, in general but also specifically for backwards compatibility. Also, people are mentioning the pricing plan, but doesn't the XSX have the same offer? I would think people would see both offers and then go "well, it's only a bit more a month for XSX, so I might as well...", but maybe that's just me.

Realistically... it may sell more, but I personally don't think it'll be by a ridiculous margin if so. Though I also wonder how much will be available of each to begin with.
 

kungfuian

Banned
Jan 24, 2018
278
The entire concept of 'sales' should be in question. I'd imagine 'core' gamers will buy XSX out right and in larger numbers at launch than the cheaper model, but once the rush is over everyone else will 'get' their XSS with their $25 dollar a month subscription.

It might retail for $299 on paper but consumers wont see that and Microsoft would be dumb to advertise it that way. They are selling subscriptions now, not consoles per say, and $25 looks better than $299.

I'd say the install base split will end up 80/20 or somewhere in that range. That is until after the 2 years is up and they give everyone the option to upgrade to the XSX+ or whatever.
 

shark97

Banned
Nov 7, 2017
5,327
no way, i believe the xss will fade out of the marketplace.

storage issues alone are a big thing that will likely kneecap it. you expect consumers not to notice it will probably have ~400GB available out of the box? given call of duty, there are probably single games that will push that sooner or later.

at the end of the day it sounds like a good concept, but a slightly smaller soc (the big CPU alone is unchanged, you're just saving some CU's that take little die area, in fact the much bigger real savings are likely in a few GB RAM and removing the disk drive) just doesn't save you enough money to matter. if you took the optical out of the series x for a apples to apples comp, it'd be 150 difference between them. and then it's said ms loses more on the S, so whats the real difference, $100? that's not worth it. it will have even more struggle down the line when series x price starts dropping, as there's less room to go anywhere on the series s price, and if this gen is any indication, anything below 299 will be a brutal struggle to get too.
 

Megabreath

Member
Oct 25, 2018
2,673
I think even casuals care about power, they want to see a decent upgrade before spending hundreds of dollars. On the other habd it is cheap, and MS themselves are basically saying don't bother with Series X. I think initially Series S will sell better and SX will close the gap as the gen moves on.
 

Lucifonz

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,156
United Kingdom
The Series S reveal has penetrated the mainstream in a way that it's the first time many folks are even hearing about a next gen Xbox. The Series X, due to a combination of numerous factors, such as the naming convention, has struggled to make ground. That price point has pricked up a lot of ears. Also there's something to be said for the power of a simple marketing dump of "here's the box, here's the surprisingly low price, here's what it can do, preorder it in a few weeks".
 

Ivanovic

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
1,362
So why was the cheap $299 Xbox outsold by the Xbox One and X, if consumers only care about price?
 

tyfon

Member
Nov 2, 2017
3,680
Norway
I think it will be "the next gen xbox" and series X will be for the hard core like the X is today.
Not sure if it will increase sales or just canabalise the series X but it will sell more imho.
 

phonicjoy

Banned
Jun 19, 2018
4,305
Yes, but not because It's "a good option". It's because unaware consumers are going to want the new Xbox and just get the cheapest one.
 
Jul 4, 2018
1,133
Vastly so

The closest thing I can compare it to isn't even the One S and One X but the Moto G and the Moto X phones back in 2013, one will get praised in terms of value and sell very well based on that and the other is respected as a premium device that'll sell to enthusiasts but not absolutely everyone.

The people who just want a "box that does thing" seriously outnumber the people who want 4k
 

Haint

Banned
Oct 14, 2018
1,361
By a mile - which begs the question, will devs focus time, energy and money in optimizing for X.

Of course not. Series S will be the lead console with devs targeting 1080p/30 then simply "up-rezing" to PS5 and Series X (likely a straight 1800p and 4K port respectively). This is why so many people have been against the Series S from the beginning. Its very existence and inevitable success all but guarantees we're never going to see games that push PS5/X to the limit (1440p or less). Doing so would mean S runs at 720p or lower, which is untenable from a marketing perspective.
 
Last edited:

sweetmini

Member
Jun 12, 2019
3,921
Lifetime sales... i doubt the S survives the mid-gen refresh. (X slim becoming the new low and XX becoming the new top line)
At launch, no doubt.
 

Azelia

Banned
Aug 27, 2020
33
I think so. It's significantly cheaper and the design is quite nice. Many people who buy it will probably assume it is just as good as the X.
 

FarronFox

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,433
Melbourne, Australia
I was going to possibly say yes if just random people want a cheaper game console, but then remembered it is without a disc drive and so they won't be able to pick up cheap traded in games and share discs with friends, etc and so I'm back to no.

I think those people will just decide on a switch or just figure they'll spend extra for the x considering they'll still be able to use discs.
 

Linus815

Member
Oct 29, 2017
20,095
The XSS is honestly more exciting to me than the XSX.
300 euros to be able to play all the newest AAA games with all the bells and whistles outside of resolution is a pretty incredible proposition, and the box itself looks great too. I have a high end PC and planning to buy 3080, so I have really no reason to be excited for an xbox, but this little box is honestly extremely impressive to me. The XSS is the ultimate arguement ender when it comes to comparing the barrier of entry for PC vs console, and no, I don't intend on turning this into platform wars or anything, besides I vastly prefer PC, it's just that, I think, XSS plays up the STRONGEST aspects of console gaming (size, price, convenience) in a much more spectacular way than its bigger brother.

4k is very nice, but even on my 50" 4k tv, 1080p still looks good, and frankly, just about any other graphical feature like ray tracing, or the potential of the zen cores, more 60 fps games or the super fast SSD sound far more exciting to me than higher resolution.

if MS keeps a steady stream of quality games coming, I can see them making a huge comeback with Xbox next gen. I doubt Sony can get close to this level of pricing with even the digital PS5.
 
Oct 28, 2017
106
If we are talking about the two launch models, then I can see it being pretty close to 50/50 but with a high chance that the XSS selling a bit more. However I think that Microsoft will remove the XSS when they do a refresh in ~3-4 years and launch an all digital XSX slim at the same price point.
 

Gamer17

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
9,399
The XSS is honestly more exciting to me than the XSX.
300 euros to be able to play all the newest AAA games with all the bells and whistles outside of resolution is a pretty incredible proposition, and the box itself looks great too. I have a high end PC and planning to buy 3080, so I have really no reason to be excited for an xbox, but this little box is honestly extremely impressive to me. The XSS is the ultimate arguement ender when it comes to comparing the barrier of entry for PC vs console, and no, I don't intend on turning this into platform wars or anything, besides I vastly prefer PC, it's just that, I think, XSS plays up the STRONGEST aspects of console gaming (size, price, convenience) in a much more spectacular way than its bigger brother.

4k is very nice, but even on my 50" 4k tv, 1080p still looks good, and frankly, just about any other graphical feature like ray tracing, or the potential of the zen cores, more 60 fps games or the super fast SSD sound far more exciting to me than higher resolution.

if MS keeps a steady stream of quality games coming, I can see them making a huge comeback with Xbox next gen. I doubt Sony can get close to this level of pricing with even the digital PS5.
I would hold on the all the bells and whistles part for xss.

Its like saying x1s has all the bells and whistles of x1x but lower resolution which is not the case. X1x had more bells and whistles for sure.
 

Linus815

Member
Oct 29, 2017
20,095
I would hold on the all the bells and whistles part for xss.

Its like saying x1s has all the bells and whistles of x1x but lower resolution which is not the case. X1x had more bells and whistles for sure.

The X1X is a different beast compared to the X1 or X1S.
The X is running a different GPU architecture, much more efficient and capable. They also got rid of the awful ESRAM and replaced it with higher bandwith memory. And clocked the CPU considerably higher.

X1-X1X isn't linear scaling.

XSX -> XSS seems to be fairly linear, the same tech just scaled down for lower resolutions. Of course there might be instances where the X has a few extra effects or details here and there but I trust MS' engineers to have worked this out properly. They were confident enough to state it so in their marketing.
 

Adrifi

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Jan 5, 2019
3,466
the Spanish Basque Country
Yes. But with All Access, I think that the percentages will be something like 65-35, a lot of people will think "Hey with only a few bucks more every month I can get the X? " and go for the X.
 

Dragonyeuw

Member
Nov 4, 2017
4,393
Yes. There are way more people with the capability to buy in at $300 than $500. That would be the case under normal conditions but especially right now.
 

KayonXaikyre

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,984
Very different proposition though. The Lite has bascially les functunality due to being handheld only.

I mean to me it's not that different because having less power and no disc drive is a completely different demographic and function set for a console that's sole purpose is to play cutting edge next gen games at the highest fidelity just like the Switch's purpose is to Switch. Of course the Switch's difference matters more and I do agree about that. That said, the only qualifier was a cheaper sku selling less than a more expensive one and that's all I was trying to meet. I wasn't thinking beyond that.
 

Marble

Banned
Nov 27, 2017
3,819
Of course it will. Regarding sales, the next gen battle will be between Series S, PS5 and potentially a new Switch version.