The Xbox Series S has effectively rendered the Xbox One moot
At one point, the Xbox One’s reputation soured so much that the original Xbox creator thought that Microsoft would kill the brand. This didn’t happen thanks to a series of savvy moves by Microsoft and Xbox Game Studios. The combination of the Xbox One’s extensive backward compatibility library and all the subsequent upgrades eventually made the console worth the investment. But, while the Xbox One and Xbox One X both remain capable consoles these days, especially thanks to the Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft might have already killed it in favor of the Xbox Series S/X. According to a report from The Verge, Microsoft stopped manufacturing Xbox One consoles at the end of 2020. This means that all the retailers still carrying Xbox One consoles are just selling through their remaining stock. Ultimately, it makes sense for Microsoft and Xbox to focus on the Xbox Series S/X. In particular, the Xbox Series S renders all Xbox One variants obsolete. The less-powerful version of the Xbox Series X possesses better hardware compared to the Xbox One X. It would have made little sense to keep the Xbox One on the market alongside its latest consoles unless Microsoft was willing to cut down its price point drastically. What is interesting is that the latest report about the Xbox One stands in contrast to what we just found out about Sony and the PS4. Sony plans to address the PS5 shortage by making more PS4s to tide gamers over. At the moment, the PS5 has only outsold the Xbox Series S/X by a small margin (13.4 million to 12 million). One can’t help but wonder if Sony’s decision to continue supporting the PS4 has affected the PS5 sales. Fans are already worried that releasing upcoming exclusives like God of War: Ragnarok, Gran Turismo 7 and Horizon Forbidden West on both the PS4 and PS5 could harm the game’s development. So far, recent reports and screenshots indicate otherwise, but the PS4 is nearing a decade old right now - maybe it’s time to put it out to pasture.
