Xbox Series X/S

The Xbox Series X and Series S (collectively referred to as the Xbox Series X|S) are ninth-generation home video game consoles developed by Microsoft. Released globally in November 2020, they are the direct successors to the Xbox One. Competing directly against Sony’s PlayStation 5, Microsoft took a radically different approach to the modern console generation, prioritizing a highly accessible, subscription-based ecosystem and a two-tiered hardware strategy over traditional console exclusivity. As of early 2026, the consoles have sold an estimated 35 million units worldwide.

Core Concept

Unlike the disastrous, TV-focused reveal of the Xbox One in 2013, Microsoft entered the ninth generation with a laser focus on player value and backward compatibility. Recognizing they had lost the previous console war to Sony’s prestige single-player blockbusters, Microsoft pivoted their entire corporate strategy away from the “plastic box” and toward the ecosystem.

The goal was no longer strictly to win hardware sales, but to get players into the Xbox network—whether they were playing on a high-end console, a gaming PC, a smartphone via Xbox Cloud Gaming, or even a rival console.

The Two-Console Strategy

In a major industry first, Microsoft launched two distinct tiers of hardware on the exact same day, designed to play the exact same next-gen games at different performance targets:

Xbox Series X: The flagship, premium console. Marketed as the “most powerful console in the world,” it looks like a sleek, black monolithic PC tower. It features a massive 12-teraflop GPU, a 4K UHD Blu-ray drive, and targets 4K gaming at 60 or 120 frames per second. It launched at $499.
Xbox Series S: The budget-friendly, entry-level console. It is incredibly small (roughly the size of a thick hardcover book), entirely digital (no disc drive), and features a weaker 4-teraflop GPU. It targets a 1440p or 1080p resolution. Launching at an incredibly aggressive $299, it became a massive Trojan horse for getting casual players and budget-conscious families into the new generation.

Hardware and Features

Both consoles share a unified architecture that fundamentally changed how games are played and managed:

Custom NVMe SSDs: Like the PS5, the Series X|S abandoned mechanical hard drives. The blazing-fast solid-state drives virtually eliminated loading screens. Storage can be expanded via proprietary, plug-and-play Expansion Cards that slot seamlessly into the back of the console.
Quick Resume: Arguably the greatest quality-of-life feature of the generation. The console can suspend multiple games directly in the SSD’s memory simultaneously. A player can be in the middle of a race in Forza, switch to Starfield for an hour, and then instantly swap back to Forza exactly where their car was frozen, completely bypassing all boot-up screens and menus.
Smart Delivery: A brilliantly consumer-friendly feature. If you buy a supported Xbox game, you automatically get the best version for your specific hardware. You never have to buy a “next-gen upgrade” separately or worry about downloading the wrong version; the console handles it automatically.
Flawless Backward Compatibility: Microsoft heavily prioritized game preservation. The Series X|S can natively play nearly every Xbox One game, hundreds of Xbox 360 games, and dozens of original 2001 Xbox games—many of which receive free, automatic “FPS Boosts” and Auto-HDR enhancements simply by running on the new hardware.

The Game Pass Era & Acquisitions

If the SSD defined the hardware, Xbox Game Pass defined the generation. Often dubbed the “Netflix of gaming,” the subscription service allows players to download and play a rotating library of hundreds of games for a monthly fee. Crucially, Microsoft committed to releasing every single one of their first-party games onto Game Pass on day one.

To feed this massive subscription beast, Microsoft spent the early 2020s executing the largest corporate acquisitions in video game history:

ZeniMax Media (2021): A $7.5 billion purchase that gave Microsoft ownership of Bethesda Softworks (The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Doom).
Activision Blizzard (2023): A staggering $68.7 billion mega-merger. After nearly two years of brutal legal battles with global trade regulators, Microsoft successfully acquired the publisher, gaining control of industry titans like Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Diablo.

Notable Software

While heavily criticized early in the generation for a lack of exclusive blockbusters, the massive pipeline of acquired studios eventually opened up:

Forza Horizon 5: A stunning, photorealistic open-world racing game set in Mexico that became one of the highest-rated games of the generation.
Halo Infinite: The flagship launch-window title. While its live-service multiplayer struggled post-launch, its campaign successfully transitioned Master Chief into a massive, grapple-hook-traversing open world.
Microsoft Flight Simulator: A literal technical marvel that uses Bing Maps and Azure cloud data to render the entire planet Earth in real-time.
Starfield: Bethesda’s highly anticipated 2023 sci-fi RPG. While polarizing among critics, it was a massive commercial driver for Game Pass subscriptions.
Call of Duty (Modern Era): Starting with Black Ops 6 in late 2024, Microsoft crossed the Rubicon by putting the biggest shooter franchise in the world directly into a subscription service on launch day.

Hardware Revisions

Rather than releasing a more powerful “Pro” console mid-generation to compete with the PS5 Pro, Microsoft focused on storage and aesthetics. In late 2024, they released a hardware refresh featuring:

A 1TB All-Digital Series X in Robot White.
A massive 2TB Series X Special Edition in Galaxy Black (retaining the disc drive).
A 1TB Series S (finally upgrading the highly restrictive 512GB launch drive).

The Current Landscape (2026)

As of 2026, the Xbox Series X|S occupies a highly transitional space. While the hardware itself is beloved by its users, traditional console hardware sales have slowed significantly, lagging noticeably behind both the PS5 and the aging Nintendo Switch.

In response, Microsoft has fully embraced a bold multi-platform strategy. Breaking the traditional rules of the console war, Xbox has begun publishing major first-party titles (such as Sea of Thieves, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and Doom: The Dark Ages) on the PlayStation 5 to maximize software sales and push their brand beyond the boundaries of their own plastic box.

Quick Note

The Xbox Series X/S represents a massive paradigm shift in the gaming industry. It is the generation where Microsoft stopped caring exactly where you played, so long as you were paying for an Xbox Game Pass subscription.

In short: Between the absolute wizardry of Quick Resume, unparalleled backward compatibility, and the sheer financial value of Game Pass, the Series X and S offer one of the most frictionless, consumer-friendly ecosystems in the history of the medium.