Is the Xbox Series S worth still worth it?

It’s been about three years since I purchases an Xbox Series S. I think there was certainly a lot to like about Microsoft’s diminutive entry-level system. It provided a good level of performance for an accessible price, at a time when next-gen consoles were getting very pricey indeed. So how have I been enjoying my Series S? Well, to be quite honest, it’s not even hooked up.

I’ve shifted most of my gaming back towards PC over the last couple of years. The Steam Deck especially has made casual play a lot easier. To me, Xbox has always seemed derivative compared to Microsoft’s other platform. The two have always had a shared library. Though in recent years, that line has completely vanished. The consoles have no exclusives to speak of, while PC ports don’t (usually) have the poor quality they once did.

The Series S was always intended to be a stop gap for me, at a time when new PC hardware was difficult to source. It was a cheap way to play next-gen games while I bided my time for sanity to return to the market. Now that I have a desktop that outperforms even the Series X, and a handheld that offers console convenience to my existing PC library, there’s little reason to revisit the system. Even Game Pass, which I wrote about a while back, has dubious benefits to the end user.

To me the Series S ended up being a cheap system with expensive upkeep, and very little raison d’etre. So what exactly is wrong with it, beyond just my specific case?

Well, lot of ink has certainly been spilled over the hardware limitations of this console. And I actually don’t think the hardware is the problem. To be perfectly honest, it’s all most people need from a gaming system. Had this been a normal console generation, I would call it a brilliant move from Microsoft. If you can’t compete at the high end, sometimes its best to target the middle-range. If you just want to play the latest video games, the S is going to get you there with no frills and little fuss.

The thing is, this has been far from a normal console generation. Mainly because the PS4 and Xbox One have absolutely refused to die. 3 plus years into a new gen, its not unusual for older hardware to still see new releases. However those tend to be highly niche titles, alongside annualized dance and sports games targeted at emerging markets. For older consoles to still be getting new AAA games this late, that’s rare. For them to be getting 1:1 ports, that’s unprecedented.

I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing. People still seem satisfied with the last gen hardware. With the economy the way it is, giving people the option to play the latest games with the consoles they already have is certainly nice. Those consoles have a massive install base, so you’d be a fool not to target them.

Of course people do want more performance, or at least they say they do. Despite complaints about the hardware, the Series S is actually a pretty big jump over the base PS4 and Xbox One. It has over twice the graphics muscle and a whopping seven times the CPU power. That’s certainly nothing to chuff at. Yet it doesn’t feel like it’s that much more powerful. Mostly because the games really aren’t taking advantage of that hardware. Well, what few current-gen games there are. Of those games, most have been fairly mediocre anyway. Which is why everyone has been calling the 9th gen a complete wash. If you’re a millennial gamer like me, you’re probably sticking to older titles from the Xbox One and Xbox 360 era, or earlier. If you’re Gen Z or younger, you’re probably still playing Minecraft and Fortnite. None of those games justify a whole new system. If you already have a PS4 or Xbox One, then there’s absolutely no reason to upgrade.

But what if you don’t have any of those systems? Well, the Series S is still the cheapest way to get you into current-gen gaming. It also has excellent backwards compatibility, provided you’re willing to (re-)buy digital copies. And at $299 US, it’s the same price as the vanilla Switch, while offering more power, and it’s certainly cheaper than any PC you can pick up. I’d honestly grab the Series S before the Series X or PlayStation 5, because I feel their high price is difficult to justify. That said, last gen hardware is cheap right now on the used market. Microsoft’s big problem (one of many) is they’re competing with their own last-gen offerings, making the new budget console feel redundant. As for PCs, I was able to put one together that outperforms the Series S for under $550. Which is a big leap price wise, but offers a lot more flexibility, and doesn’t require an annual fee for online play.

Microsoft did at least recently addressed one of the biggest shortcomings of the S; its lack of storage. Of the 512GB available, only 364GB is actually accessible to the end user. Some games, like the recent Call of Duty titles, have started bumping up against that limit. Obviously there’s been no attempt at optimising, made more ironic that Microsoft owns Activision now. However, this has caused them to finally upgrade the Series S to 1TB of storage. However, this new black version has also seen the price increase to $379, which brings it much closer to that of the discless PS5; a console which offers 2.5x the graphics performance. Meanwhile, proprietary storage upgrades for the X/S, while they have come down, are still expensive.

So, should you get a Series S? Nah, man, just save up for a PC, buy a Switch, or stick with your last gen console. You aren’t missing anything.