Phil Spencer: Xbox Series S to Outsell Xbox Series X Due to Lower Price - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 November 2020 / 2,366 Views
Microsoft is getting ready to launch its next-generation consoles, the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, which are now less than a month away.
Head of Xbox Phil Spencer in an interview with Kotaku expects the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S will be sold out during the first holiday season. The number of consoles shipped will determine with console sells more this holiday season.
"I think we’ll sell every unit of both of them that we can deliver," said Spencer. "I think demand is just going to outstrip supply of pre-orders. For us and PlayStation, I think that the manufacturing supply chain is going to dictate [market] share more than anything else."
Spencer added that over the course of the generation he expects the Xbox Series S will outsell the Xbox Series X due to its lower price point.
"I think, over the generation, our expectation would be that price really matters and that you would see the Series S sell more," he said.
Phil Spencer says at his home he keeps the Xbox Series X attached to the TV and on its side, while the Xbox Series S he keeps attached to a monitor in the office.
Some games actually load faster on the Xbox Series S than on the Xbox Series X due to the lower-resolution assets. The Series S runs games at 1080p or 1440p, while the Series X runs them at 4K.
Spencer added he isn't worried about the power difference between the Series X and Series S. He mentions the PC ecosystem and how there can be a huge difference in specs between the top of the line PCs and lower-end PCs. Developers will release a game that looks incredible on the best PCs, and are then able to scale down the graphics, framerate, and other elements of a game to make them run on a lower-end PC.
"I’m not worried," Spencer said. "I think we have proof points, like we’ve said, on PC, that show that you can get absolutely amazing-looking games on great hardware and have those games scale to the hardware capability.
"But absolutely, it is work. There’s no doubt about that. The fact that you have two performance specs now, I’m not going to stand here or try to PR somebody and say two different specs is the same as having one spec. It’s not. We’re doing this because we want to expand the market."
The Xbox Series X and Series S will launch worldwide on November 10.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Yes, right now it is the fans and enthusiasts that are pre-ordering it; so I would expect the Series X to sell more for the holidays. But for the long run, I think expecting the S to sell more is what I would also root for.
Could not get an X on pre-order, as they were OOS. So, S it is.
That was my expectation, the price is great for next gen launch. People will be happy with the Series S as long as it runs next gen content well. Personally, I am actually more impressed with the Series S than X1 and PS4 in 2013.
Not so sure it's gonna be just win-win with both consoles in the long run. What if price matters so much that the series X will be totally eclipsed?
You mean "we want to disrupt the market"
so they made the "most powerful console" only for it to lose on sales to the "weakest 9th gen console" smart move! haha
Price matters. Also, if it plays the same games well then the Series S will be fine.
bad move with the series s. Just wait till ps5 exclusives overshadow whats on series x in 3 years from now. Full potential is held back.
Make great looking games for Series X and PC, lower visual settings for Series S. But I assume you heard that argument before.
And what happens when an ambitious game comes along that uses all that ram and gpu power, and only outputs in 1080p, without ray tracing. Drop to 720p, take out some design elements from certain levels?
Like how a high end game works on a low end PC.
@Kratos - You are speculating and Azznation is correct. A game that uses all the RAM on Series X will likely have lower quality assets (often textures) on Series S, much like how PC games have settings for VRAM. Consider 8th gen ports on Switch, texture quality takes a big hit given Switch is working with considerably less memory.
The odds of of Series X having games built around 1080p seems slim. But developers can decide what compromises they want to make case by case. Maybe dropping to 720p with some minor visual setting compromises will be enough. If a game is 1080p/60 fps on Series X, then maybe 900p/30 fps is viable for Series S. Either way, developers have options and this scenario would be rare.
Yes it will be rare, and i'm surprised that microsoft allowed a game to run on 900 p considering it's a machine touted for 1440p. But will they allow 720p. Other than this, the fact that there is a lower spec system, means devs will most likely be making games for series s then optimising for series x, probably adding ray tracing or resolution. I don't think we will see series x being maxed and pushed further and than scaling and removing game design aspects, or scaling back for series x., just to save time and less head aches. Still think ps5 will end up with better looking exclusives cause of this.
It will operate no difference to a PS4 and PS4 Pro. Same games, higher resolutions/fps.
The 900p option in Yakuza is for 60 fps, an option you can't get on 8th gen platforms. While the 30 fps mode is probably 1440p.
The disparity between Series S and X is smaller than you are suggesting. Lowering resolution and perhaps other visual setting should be enough. Virtually everything on Xbox is already designed to scale with varying hardware on PC as well.
Sony has put focus on graphics since PS3. Would I be surprised if PS5 has the best looking exclusives? Not really. In spite of that, Xbox will still have great looking games.
Honestly I hope xbox does well next gen and proves me wrong. Good competition means better games everywhere.
