The Xbox Series X ‘Galaxy Black’ hasn’t gotten the warmest welcome (YouTube)
The new Xbox consoles are now available to pre-order, but they’re very expensive and won’t be available everywhere.
While most of the video games industry is currently busy at this week’s Gamescom event in Germany not every company is involved, most obviously Sony and Nintendo, but Microsoft has a very large presence on the show floor.
One of the biggest announcements is the release date for three new editions of the Xbox Series X/S, which were first revealed back in June, at the Xbox Games Showcase, but now have a release date of October 15, as well as prices and a pre-order option.
However, the consoles haven’t been met with applause from many fans, as they argue it shouldn’t be more expensive to buy hardware four years after the original devices came out.
The three new consoles are a white, disc-less 1TB Xbox Series X at £429.99, a ‘Galaxy Black’ 2TB Xbox Series X costing £549.99, and a white 1TB Xbox Series S at £299.99.
Over on Reddit, fans have been less than impressed with the pricing, especially with the 2TB ‘Galaxy Black’ Xbox Series X, which is £70 more expensive than the original console.
‘The same Series X specs but with an extra 1TB of storage for $600??? That’s…terrible,’ says TechGuyDude.
‘Considering I paid €500 for the base console back in 2020, an additional €150 for one more TB of space and a new paintjob is …. not cheap,’ LSKone says.
‘I bought a Series X for $350 last holiday. We’re at a point in the gen where prices should be going down or maintaining the price but adding more storage,’ Spanish Ginger added.
This comes at a time when the current generation of consoles is beyond the halfway line of its cycle, and Xbox in particular has been struggling with sales.
Microsoft’s latest financial report, for the quarter ending June 30, 2024, saw hardware revenue drop 42% year-over-year, while the Xbox maker’s previous quarterly report saw a 31% decrease.
Although the new models are intended to reverse some of that trend it’s also been revealed that they won’t be available in all countries, with Argentina, Brazil, Chile, India, Israel, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey, and UAE missing out and availability set to ‘vary by country.’
It all very much gives the impression that Microsoft is beginning to give up selling consoles in some countries, concentrating on its core markets of the US and UK.
A potential positive that Microsoft has going for it, when it comes to sales at least, is that the upcoming Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be on Game Pass day one.
Are new Xbox Series X/S consoles a pointless endeavour? (Microsoft)
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