Xbox Series S - 4 Years later & still selling way below expectations

[Box]

Despite being the cheapest next-gen console on the market, the Series S has proven to be a failed gamble. It seems that Phil Spencer has horribly miscalculated the global console market. Microsoft initially expected the Series S to take the world by storm with its low price point and focus on Game Pass, but despite this, by all metrics, the PS5 has outsold both the Series S and X combined, with figures ranging from 2:1 in most markets to 5:1 in others.

The market has spoken, and it is very clear that it has no appetite for a "cut-down" next-gen experience. So why has the Series S done so poorly in the global console market while the PS5 by all metrics has absolutely obliterated it?

Initially Microsoft advertised the Series S at a target resolution of 1440p, since then they have slowly backtracked on this promise due to the lack of power and developer disdain for the console. The Series has been cited as the main reason why some developers have skipped the Xbox platform all together with Larian studios almost being a very famous example of this.

The Series S cuts some corners compared to the powerhouse that is the PS5. We're talking lower resolution targets and less processing grunt. For gamers who crave those top-of-the-line visuals and silky smooth performance, the Series S just doesn't cut it.

Microsoft has tried heavily discounting the console and even literally giving the thing away in Australia, but the public still to this day refuses to care.

So is it time for Microsoft to save face, cut their losses and discontinue the Swries S?

 

[JAHGamer]

Yeah, most consumers don't want a piece of junk, no matter how cheap it is.

So is it time for Microsoft to save face, cut their losses and discontinue the Series S?

They can't, 80% of their user base are on the S.

 

[Box]

Yeah, most consumers don't want a piece of junk, no matter how cheap it is.


They can't, 80% of their user base are on the S.

They really have miscalculated, the Series S is holding back the entire generation

 

[Cool hand luke]

It's time to discontinue both, but helping developers by ceasing the dual SKU support stipulation would go a small way towards making amends for trying to ruin the industry.

 

[anonpuffs]

Yeah, most consumers don't want a piece of junk, no matter how cheap it is.


They can't, 80% of their user base are on the S.

pretty sure that ratio has been going down as more and more people have been realizing that the series S is actually fucking terribad. It started high but the X has been selling better for the past year or so

 

[JAHGamer]

pretty sure that ratio has been going down as more and more people have been realizing that the series S is actually fucking terribad. It started high but the X has been selling better for the past year or so

where u see this? The only region that tells us actual sales split is Japan, and the Series S has sold more there.

 

[Gediminas]

They really have miscalculated, the Series S is holding back the entire generation

About what miscalculations are you talking ?

 

[Sunrise Ninja]

The more I play with my Steam Deck the more I think the Series S should have been a handheld, it's just too underpowered for a home console compared to the PS5 and the Series X it would have been perfect for GamePass. But Phil "No Vision" Spencer had other plans.

 

[anonpuffs]

where u see this? The only region that tells us actual sales split is Japan, and the Series S has sold more there.

i think mat piscatella and chris dring have said splits on and off over the last year, cba to look up the tweets

 

[Nhomnhom]

Xbox was too stupid to realize price isn't everything and most people intrested in consoles arent complete idiots.

The $299 Series S is an obscene proposition when you have the PS5 DE on the market for $399, the 1TB Series S for $349 is even worse somehow.

The Series S also completelly sabotaged the Series X and attracts the least valuable costumers.

 

[Maverick]

I mean what did they expect? Did they think porting first party games to PC and other consoles would help? Start with making great exclusive games first.

 

[Box]

About what miscalculations are you talking ?

Early on they predicted the Series S to be the dominant console

 

[xollowsob]

i think mat piscatella and chris dring have said splits on and off over the last year, cba to look up the tweets

You're right. The sales split is roughly 1:1. It was front loaded with Series S to start.

OT it was always going to be below expectations because Xbox is dead. Nobody wants a console with no games

 

[Gediminas]

Early on they predicted the Series S to be the dominant console

It is dominant between xbox consoles.

If you are talking about all consoles, i doubt that anyone with 3 brain cells would have thought that SS will be dominant or sell well.
But we perfectly know how these xbox leadership idiots are -

 

[ToTTenTranz]

Whomever thought the $300 Series S would be a good deal was out of their mind.
I don't even know who the console is for. People with only $300 (but not $400 for a PS5?) to spend on a console, who exclusively want to play Gamepass games?


Early on I really thought the Series S was going to be a trojan for them to introduce a handheld some 3 years down the line (small 4nm SoC, 256bit LPDDR5X downclocked to 7000MT/s). Yet here we are 4 years in and all we have is last year's leak from Microsoft stating they have absolutely no plans to introduce a 1st party handheld console.

So their point with the Series S really was a cheaper but much worse performing alternative, where the downgrade in performance isn't accompanied with a proportional downgrade in price. In summary, their point in the Series S was really just to make a weak console that would then force several compromises in Microsoft's whole generation.
Genius.

It seems that Phil Spencer has horribly miscalculated (...)

This is a good summary of Phil Spencer's professional life since he became a Xbox executive.

 

[J_Paganel]

Yeah, most consumers don't want a piece of junk, no matter how cheap it is.


They can't, 80% of their user base are on the S.

For MS, this was a planned move, they produced more XSS even during the PS5 shortage and partial XSX shortage.

XSS were freely available on mediamarkt shelves, while other consoles had to wait in line.

Also, part of MS's plan was to force developers to take XSS as a target for development, because they hoped to capture a larger share of the market by selling them freely and at a lower price.

Fortunately, they didn't succeed, and I don't like the situation with the game market now, but it could have been worse.

 

[Heisenberg007]

It's funnier because Phil was bragging before the console launch that they "have a plan to beat PlayStation this generation." lol

 

[J_Paganel]

It's funnier because Phil was bragging before the console launch that they "have a plan to beat PlayStation this generation." lol

They really could have beaten PS if they had repeated the X360 policy (without steps towards a kinekt at the end of the generation).

AAA projects only on XBOX, and sponsoring and publishing third-party studio projects. Perhaps with elements of dumping, in the form of keeping the price at $60, and various promotional offers.

But they did the opposite, and turned XBOX into the loser brother of Windows and PC.

 

[JAHGamer]

It's funnier because Phil was bragging before the console launch that they "have a plan to beat PlayStation this generation." lol

all the shills fell for it too and started spreading it around. Then when the strategy was a failure, they went back to "console sales dont matter" 1 of many reasons why Xbox fanboys are the worst in gaming

 

[Nhomnhom]

Whomever thought the $300 Series S would be a good deal was out of their mind.
I don't even know who the console is for. People with only $300 (but not $400 for a PS5?) to spend on a console, who exclusively want to play Gamepass games?


Early on I really thought the Series S was going to be a trojan for them to introduce a handheld some 3 years down the line (small 4nm SoC, 256bit LPDDR5X downclocked to 7000MT/s). Yet here we are 4 years in and all we have is last year's leak from Microsoft stating they have absolutely no plans to introduce a 1st party handheld console.

So their point with the Series S really was a cheaper but much worse performing alternative, where the downgrade in performance isn't accompanied with a proportional downgrade in price. In summary, their point in the Series S was really just to make a weak console that would then force several compromises in Microsoft's whole generation.
Genius.



This is a good summary of Phil Spencer's professional life since he became a Xbox executive.

Two non portable SKUs with different specs from the start never made any sense.

To me it just seems like they never really reflected on what they were doing, they focused so much in trying to put PlayStation out of position that they just knocked themselves out. MS is like that racer that can't focus on their own race and instead is more concern about what they can do to sabotage the other racers.