That’s not a lot of space for a digital console
With the launch of the Xbox Series X and Series S taking place next week, it would seem that someone was lucky enough to have their Xbox Series S already shipped to them. Now, this doesn’t seem far-fetched as we’ve already seen reports of others receiving their Xbox Series X. Of course, they took to Reddit to exclaim that they received the console and was asked a series of questions. One of which was how much space was available to install games and applications on the Xbox Series S. The answer wasn’t that shocking, yet hearing that only 364GB of space was available after the OS install, well, it seems like storage is going to be a major concern for the console.
https://twitter.com/GameLeaksRumors/status/1323689377898369026?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1323689377898369026%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fs9e.github.io%2Fiframe%2F2%2Ftwitter.min.html1323689377898369026
While 365GB may seem like a lot of space, that quickly turns into a different picture as soon as games are factored in. For example, Activision’s Call of Duty Warzone weighs in at 100GB, as does the upcoming Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War. Then other AAA games can weigh anywhere from 30 – 50GB, which means as soon as you know it, that 364GB of space is just about gone. Leaving with Xbox Series S owners will three options; uninstalling games and reinstalling others, attaching a slower but larger USB drive to use as a pack mule drive, or purchasing the expensive 1TB storage cart.
The biggest disappointment here is that Xbox is heavily championing Xbox Game Pass for its next-generation consoles. How many games do we think the Series S is going to be able to install with just 364GB of space? I’m guessing not many. This is not a good look for an all-digital console. Before someone chimes in that the current, soon to be the previous generation of consoles did have 500GB variants, which were quickly replaced by 1TB version. They were also able to use USB attached storage to store and play games, much cheaper than what we can do on the Xbox Series X|S.
Now, I’m not saying the Xbox Series S is a bad console, but I do think that perhaps those who elected to purchase the console are in for a rough ride. On top of the storage concerns that are already being brought to the forefront. We’re also already seeing several games that had to foregone visual upgrades or features afforded by the Xbox Series X. This includes the recent Fortnite visual upgrades, and the lack of Ray Tracing on the Xbox Series S. The biggest hurt here is that the Series S costs $299.99. Add in another $219.99, and you’re at the $520 price point. That’s $20 more than if someone purchased the Xbox Series X instead if they could have found one. A more capable console with more storage as well.
Lastly, don’t shoot the messenger; I’m just calling it how I see it.
Both the Xbox Series X and Series S will be released on November 10th, 2020.
