5 Years Later I Still Love My Xbox Series S, Here's Why
It’s now 2025, meaning the Xbox X/S launched five years ago…and what a wild five years it’s been for Microsoft and Xbox. Not only are they brutally losing the console war to PlayStation, but the company has had a series of gaffes – including their bizarre business plan to get rid of exclusive games and turn Xbox into a digital service, while still claiming they’re dedicated to making hardware…What??? and why???
Another controversial aspect of the generation has been the Xbox Series S, which is the all-digital and less-powerful (but most importantly smaller and cheaper) console compared to the Series X. Since its launch, many gamers have complained that the console isn’t truly “next-gen” and believe it’s held Xbox back. But I’m here to say that for many gamers like myself, the Series S is the perfect console, and five years later I’m still loving it. Here’s why…
It’s Portable and Sturdy
I travel a good amount. I go on work trips and I visit home a few times a year. For me, it’s awesome to have a console I can easily slip into my backpack at a moment’s notice. Whereas the X is a giant, nine-pound shoebox-sized monstrosity (albeit a very powerful monstrosity), the S not only fits in my backpack, but it fits while still leaving lots of room for other stuff. I can comfortably travel with the S in my backpack along with my laptop, notebook, Switch, journal, and my little travel kit that has all my charging wires in it.
Plus, since it has no disk drive and the external memory card can easily be removed and reinserted, it feels very sturdy and I never worry about fragile parts that might get destroyed from a little bump here and there.
It Still Looks Great for the Price
Yes, hardcore gamers will gripe and moan about teraflops and resolution, and they’ll put down the Series S for not being good enough. But let’s all just be honest here…for most of us players out there, that stuff doesn’t matter. I play massive games like Baldur’s Gate 3 and Dragon Age: The Veilguard on my S and both look fantastic. Sure, maybe they’re not as fantastic as they could look on a Series X or PS5…but frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.
And I think most gamers would agree with me. As long as a game looks and plays great, I don’t care if it doesn’t look “the best”. And I also think a lot of gamers out there don’t want to pay $500 for a console. In fact, up until late 2024, the S had been outselling the X for the entire console generation. For many players who just want a good time, the S is perfect because it offers good performance at a more affordable price.
It's a Great Next-Gen Console
While the Series S might not be as powerful as the Series X, it’s still a great next-gen console with loads of features that I love. First up, Quick Resume is probably my favorite thing ever and I currently have five or six games that I can jump right back into at any moment, picking right up where I left off.
Plus, it has ray tracing, can hit 120 FPS, and has 8k video output. Is the Xbox Series S the most high-tech console available right now? No, but it has enough next-gen features that, for $300 bucks (or cheaper with all the sales it’s had lately), it is absolutely worth it.
Why Waste Money on an Xbox Right Now Anyways?
Finally, I have to ask…why would you spend $500 on an Xbox X right now anyway? Xbox X/S sales numbers are pretty awful, and Xbox coming out last year and saying that they’re getting rid of exclusive games has only destroyed those numbers even further.
As we get closer to the 10th Generation, Xbox will continue to move away from exclusive games, meaning your $500 dollar Series X could have been a PlayStation 5, and you could be playing PS exclusives and Xbox games. Plus, with Xbox's sales numbers, it's becoming more and more unlikely that the company will remain in the console space at all, so your Series X will be nothing more than a heavy reminder that you invested in the wrong console.
As far as I’m concerned, when you factor in size, portability, convenience, price, and the fact that the Xbox consoles are looming on the brink of extinction, the Xbox S is absolutely the way to go.