Talking Point: Did The Series X|S Bring You Back To Xbox? If So, How Come?

I never really left xbox, but after having to sell my xbo and eventually getting a og ps4, i didnt see myself getting another until about a year ago when i couldnt get my hands ona ps5. So i "settled" and got a series s... and instantly fell in love! xbox series s+gamepass really won me over. It performs well, has a small footprint (next to my ps5 it looks like a toy) and powers on and off quickly. You can even tell google to power it on and off if ya want to. Its super dope, and ill probably get a series x and give the series s to my son.

I left Xbox after the disastrous One launch and just had a PS4. Lack of exclusive games was the main reason and not liking the direction Xbox was going.

I now decided to return to Xbox with the series X as I absolutely hated the PS ecosystem and Sony with anti consumer practices. Like no refund policy and increasing games prices.

Loving Game Pass that I get for free with rewards points and Sony simply can't compete with it. Although Xbox still needs to work on getting exclusive games out I'm confident due to buying studios. It seems like Microsoft is finally taking gaming seriously with heavy investment, should have happened years ago.

I had an original Xbox and then went to PS3. But eventually got a 360. Then I went to PS4 for most of that generation until right at the end and I picked up and OneX. I played the hell out of that thing. Then went to PS5 about a year after it came out. But then almost immediately picked up a Series X. I’d say the Series X was a thing that I wanted to have right away if only to be able to play my existing Xbox games better and load faster. It’s really the reason for the PS5 as well. They are both just better versions of the previous systems with the occasional new game thrown in. I’m glad I have both early on if only for the convenience of faster load times. But largely I could have skipped both for now.

I bought a PS5 at launch and about 6 months later I was sucked into getting a Series S to compliment the PS5 & my Switch.

Main reason for being tempted by the Series S was the relatively low price point and of course game pass. I never did actually "buy" a game for it.

Only draw back with it is lack of storage space which made me upgrade to a Series X

I exited Xbox in 2010, picked up the OG in 2003 and a 360 launch day, but all I was playing at the time on the machibe was COD & Mass Effect when the latter went muptiplat I had no reason to keep it. I never bothered with the XB1 there were a couple of games I wouldn't have minded playing more of (played on a friend's console) but there was nothing I felt like I was missing.

When the Series consoles were announced I knew I'd be picking up an S at some point, I ended up getting one with my phone upgrade. While I wouldn't have picked one up yet, there's still been no real must play games on it yet, it's a great bit of kit and what could come will make it essential eventually.

I'm a working-class, middle-aged man (30's), proud dad of 2 young kids and tough Brazilian guy. That's my short resumé. That said, the Series S is not the best choice, but the ONLY viable one, from a financial and practical perspective for my lifestyle. In other words, in order to get a PS5/ XSX, I'd have to fork almost a month of hard-earned cash; as for the XSS, I got it for almost a third of the price at a local retail store. I must say it: I couldn't be happier with my little white toaster! I'm a single-player/ off-line only gamer, and Gamepass has got my back. I'm really grateful that gaming this gen has been made more accessible to more people, mainly due to Microsoft's entry-level strategy.

Xbox series S is my first Xbox ever

It was game pass that brought me back to Xbox. I loved my 360, but I decided to buy a PS4 because I did not like what microsoft was doing with One (I hate kinect, wii, etc, and that TV ***** really turned me off). But, just like with microsoft in 2013, Sony did not convince me me to buy a PS5, maybe due to the $70 dollar price tag of their "next-gen" games. I live in Brazil, and everything is so expensive here that a $10 dollar difference made a huge impact here. So I decided to buy a Series X and get game pass. I don't regret it at all. It's a wonderful console, ecosystem, service, etc.

I still want to buy a PS5, and maybe get the new PS plus Deluxe (we don't have that premium tier here), but i'll wait for the inevitable slim version.

Loved the original Xbox and 360, then dropped out after the horror showing that was the One. Came back this gen and I’m enjoying the Xbox again. Was great catching up on all the exclusives I missed on the One and Gamepass is great. Been on Xbox more than PlayStation so far this gen so something is working.

I've been console agnostic as far back as I remember, but I opted for PS4 and 5 at first because of exclusives. The busier I got with work, the less those exclusives started to matter to me and I just wanted a single console to play backwards compatible games with no hassle, as well as my typical multi-platform releases such as COD or any FromSoftware games. Yes, the PS5 has a better exclusive selection right now, but they just don't match my schedule nor do I want to purchase them if I never get around to playing them. At least with GPU, I was able to enjoy Halo Infinite with my sub and not feel bad about never beating it. Likewise, I loved Forza Horizon 5 so much, I ended up buying it outright.

Game Pass brought me back. Getting very disillusioned by the switch, which got me back into gaming itself in 2017

I ended up on Xbox due to my frustration trying to grab a PS5 before the scalpers got to them. Started on the S with gamepass and later was able to upgrade to the X with GP ultimate.

Even taking into account what I consider to be a poor 2022 gamepass wise I still think I made a good choice and am happy to be an Xbox gamer this generation.

For sure. After a 12 year gap coming back to Xbox and Game Pass was a no brainier. And too good to pass up.

Elden Ring brought me back. Game pass made me stay.

I've always been a multi-console gamer, but it's this gen where I play all my multiplatform games on Xbox. Meaning the gaming library for my Xbox is growing much much larger than my PS and Nintendo ones. The ease of backwards compatibility, the quick resume feature, the smart delivery. It's just such a good functional console.

I bought the original Xbox in 2003, after that in 2007 I got the Xbox 360. However unfortunately for me in 2010 I got the red ring of death. After that I got Playstation 3 and eventually the PS4 in 2016. I didn't really enjoy the games on PS4, it has nothing to do with the console I just think between 2016-2019 there really wasn't much in terms of great games. Of course we had exceptions like RDR 2, Titanfall 2, God of War, Spiderman and Uncharted but apart from these handfuls there wasn't much. I also had a few problems with games. I'd buy games only for them to be mediocre, eventually I stopped playing games and gave the console away to my sister in 2019.

I then heard about the new consoles, did some research and found out about the games on Gamepass. XGP was the biggest deciding factor for me to go back to xbox. I got the Series X in December 2020.

The first year on the console was phenomal I discovered so many great games on the service. Played new games like Hades, Halo Infinite, Psychonauts 2, Forza Horizon 5, Flight Simulator and many many more. It was truly awesome and I thought great decision buying this console.

In 2022 however, the additions to game pass have been poor. I didn't like Far Cry 5, hated Hitman, Indie titles like Nobody Saves the World sucked and of course the delays to Starfield and Redfall have been terrible news.

I think 2022 in general has been poor for gaming. Its only in October when the heavy Hitters will be released.

Overall I have now played 81 games on GamePass. I rate every game I play and so far the service has been averaging about 5.5/10 which is pretty poor. But here's the thing I don't think that's because the service is bad, I just I'm very picky when it comes to games. I have a very particular taste. Sometimes I find awesome games on the service and sometimes they are truly terrible. But I love games it's so convenient, affordable and accessible. It is easily the greatest gaming service on the planet right now. Series X is the best Xbox ever made. I'm glad I went with it.

More Japanese games

I had a Xbox One X, but tbh the PS4 was my go-to console last generation. When the new consoles launched I tried to get both, but was only able to get the Series X. Because of this and GamePass Xbox was now my go-to console…until August 2021 when I finally got a PS5! Now I enjoy both consoles.

I was waiting and keeping money to buy the new switch but when Nintendo presented the switch oled I have decided to buy a Xbox series s instead , the last Xbox I owned was the 360 so I had all the Xbox one library to play and the game pass offer is incredible so it is a good time for me to return to Xbox and since then my switch is gathering dust.

I had the original Xbox and an Xbox 360 which unfortunately had the red ring of death (temporarily fixed several times by sticking the motherboard in the oven!) but then didn't bother with the Xbox One and used the PS4 for my gaming. The thing that got me back into Xbox was the cheapness of the Series S and the value of Game Pass and when I can afford it i'll update to the Series X

This is a great topic. In the 80s I was a PC gamer. In the 90s I was a Sega and PC gamer. In the 2000s I was PC only before dropping off entirely for years until getting an Xbox 360 in 2011. I still didn't play that much, but I did enjoy a lot of Halo 3 ODST online with a friend.

I then dropped off of gaming again until 2016, coming back to the PC with Doom. My Steam library then started to gather, well, some steam and by 2017 I was playing quite a few games I'd never have looked at in the past such as Dark Souls 3.

Later that year I got a Switch and from there I pretty much left PC gaming behind forever. Those Switch only years were great, with so many brilliant titles being release. I always had one eye on a PS4 for Bloodborne and Persona 5 but never quite made the purchase. I had no interest in the Xbox.

Finally in 2020 I picked up a PS4, then a PS5 and was very happy to find out how much I'd been missing. However, I still didn't want an Xbox as I felt it was simply a COD and FPS machine, a genre I (bar Doom 2016) left behind in the 90s with Quake 3. And there were certainly "no exclusives" or JRPGs.

Skip forward to late last year and I was starting to realise I was wrong. Xbox is not just about shooters. In fact, Game Pass was looking too good to pass up. So, I bit the bullet and picked up a Series S.

I was delighted with the machine. Super fast, very impressive for the price point, and GP is indeed excellent. Further, I rediscovered how great multiplayer FPS games are with friends with Halo Infinite.

When the opportunity arose I upgraded to a Series X and I couldn't be happier with the machine. Not only is it a great performer, but I think Quick Resume is a killer feature. It's the reason I'm now buying quite a few games on the Series over the PS5.

On balance the Switch Pro Controller and Dual Sense probably do beat the Xbox controller, though it's still a great controller.

So yes, you could say I'm something of a convert. I really do love all the consoles and would say the Xbox is now just as much a favourite of mine as all of the others.

I've owned every Nintendo system since the inception of the NES, this is the first generation I've purchased an XBOX and the key selling point was the full backwards compatibility.
I also purchased a PS5 for the 1st party titles.
I'm all for gamepass but I hope it doesn't hinder the opportunity to purchase and collection of physical copies of games.

Never left xbox, it's been my preferred platform since my college roommates talked me into buying a 360 in 2008. The controller and interface are perfect to me. I can't imagine playing 3rd party games anywhere else.

Now that I can afford to have all platforms I have learned the downsides of each. There are definately things that Nintendo or Sony do better and some things Xbox does better. It's still my Xbox and PC getting the most use. That hasn't really changed, I used the Xbox 1 more than ps4 and switch too.

Ive had every xbox, but switched mainly to PS4 during last gen, first PS since PS1 with my switch for the exclusives there as well. I will continue to use xbox for backwards compatibility and the exclusives that come out but will probably stick with PS/Switch as my mains and look at the exclusives that interest me on xbox, mostly through free months of gamepass

Sort of. It was more Playstation pissing away all the good will I had with them by going all in on boring AAA open world/Oscar bait games while abandoning their quirkier stuff than anything Xbox did. Though Xbox has done a good job courting indie stuff and saving me a bit of money when money is getting tighter.

The Series X brought me back after to xbox for the first time since 360 - I had PS4/Pro before that.
I switched purely for Flight Simulator, which I used to play on PC back in the old days.
Very glad that I did, and have put in many, many hours in Flight Sim. I am eager to see some more 'next gen' games though, and am looking forward to what Unreal 5 and FSR will bring.

Had the original Xbox in my household as a child - got a series S last year for gamepass and all old Xbox games from 360 days + halo above all. Though currently I’m barely touching the Xbox as I’m playing more on PS5 and Switch atm

Nope. Never left. I neglected my OG Xbox quite a bit back in the day because I was way into PC gaming, but from the 360 onward I've been 100% xbox, despite owning every other console along the way (including an OLED switch and a PS5 now, both of which seldom see use)

I had a 360 and loved it. Switched to PS4 because of the missteps Microsoft seemed to be taking on the road to Xbox One. I got a Series X when I could back in December. It’s been a great being back on Xbox again.

Most of my gaming is third party but I am partial to Halo as well. So coming back to Xbox was always on the cards.

Rejoined Xbox after playing on PS4 with friends. It was actually the shocking fan noise of my PS4 Pro that was the nail in the coffin. I'm amazed at how silent the Series S is & back compatibility is a massive bonus. I'm not going back to PS because of how far Sony have fallen since their PS2 heyday.

Never had an Xbox since I sold my 360 in 2013 for a Wii U, until the beginning of last year when I bought a Series S, actually nowadays I'm mostly a PC Gamer but always wanted to play some retro OG Xbox and 360 games, the price was so cheap and the offers with Gamepass Ultimate were so great that I couldn't leave the chance to finally comeback! and since then I'm mostly enjoying it so far

@Darylb88 Persona 5 is coming in October, man - I'm really excited for it, maybe you should take a look as well. You can't go wrong with the Judgement franchise too! Tales of Arise is another - chef kiss - game.
Any other Japanese recommendations for a fellow fan?

I BLEED GREEN. I always game on Xbox to support American gaming industry and have always been a Microsoft guy

My bittersweet story with Nintendo is lifetime long but to tell you my Xbox story I have to tell you my PS story because they influenced each other and I met them during the same generation.

My first Xbox was Xbox One after getting a PS4 at launch and although Xbox One was bigger, I immediately liked it more because it was quieter, cooler and had a better controller and more comprehensive UI. It looked much better built but the power brick was hard to ignore. Backwards compatibility was my favourite feature and also the reason why I got it. Basically, I bought an Xbox to play Rare Replay.

This is the list of objective problems I had on PS4:

· The console started ejecting discs while I was playing. When this happens, the console closes the game immediately (anti-piracy?) so you lose all your current progress and that can be a nightmare playing the Kingdom Hearts collections, because those games can have you playing for 45 minutes before giving you a chance to save. I removed a piece of rubber as instructed by tutorials but that didn't help.

· The video had random blackouts, they were brief so not that bad, just annoying.

· The battery life of the controller started to decrease fast. Now it can't be used without a cable and what is more annoying is that it synchronises and desynchronises depending on the battery charge because the controller still tries to charge the battery although it's dead. Yes, I know I can buy a new controller. Actually, I can't do anything else because batteries can't be replaced easily. Instead of buying a new controller, I'd buy an adapter to use an Xbox controller since they are better.

· The console makes a very loud sound and gets hot. The heat doesn't bother me, it makes me worry sometimes but it's not that bad. Now, the noise it makes it's like it's about to take off.

Subjective:

· I hate the loud beeps it makes when you turn it on. It reminds me of the PC towers of the 90s.

· User interface. People complained about Xbox One UI but while Xbox automatically backs up save data for free, to back up save data on PS4 without Plus is cumbersome, going through two different menus to copy and to delete, pressing the tiny Options button to show options, then selecting all, then going down to copy all... This is something I did very often while playing the two Kingdom Hearts collections because the PS4 always sounded like it was about to explode. I don't know how can anyone like the PS4 UI when it's a labyrinth unless it's for the relaxing music a la GameCube.

· Finally, I realised that my favourite PS games were all third-party except Wipeout Omega Collection.

After that dual generation, I upgraded to Xbox One X and to Series X and couldn't be happier.

Picked up my first ever Xbox with the Series X cause I just felt Xbox was being a lot more consumer friendly than Sony. Also Game Pass is an absolute revelation.

I'm even more glad that I got my Series X after Sony taking my PS5 for repairs and not returning it. Still haven't gotten it back after 2 months and their customer service is an absolute disgrace here in Germany.

I owned a 360, then switched to PS4.

The fact Xbox Series X has gamepass (which has tons of games I missed out on last gen), a 4K Blu-ray player and is easier loaded with emulators is what sold me on it.

Honestly I only got a Series X because I couldn't find a PS5 and I had a next generation itch that needed scratching.

But I now have both the Series X and PS5, and to my surprise I play my Xbox WAY more. There's not as many great exclusives as PS5, at least not yet. But the exclusives it does have combined with Game Pass, backwards compatibility and FPS boost just keep bringing me back.

I loved the 360 but the disaster of the x1 launch put me entirely into ps4 camp. I used my wife's x1 for about 4 exclusives and in 2019 after I finished Ori and the story in a lot of 360 games, I declared I was done with MS forever (unless the next console did something special) and come October I will be buying one and not a ps5.

It's a mixture of things. Exclusive future games by Bethesda and Obsidian, the look of the consoles, the fact that xbox live is still the best service, their respect for fans abd most of all, their dedication to game preservation and getting so many games from different eras working and in some cases improved, eg Fable 1 which I never even finished on 360. I still have the 360 for the games that are not compatible eg Tales of Vesperia but I love the work they put in.
Oh and gamepass lol.

Xbox is finally the console of choice to me again and im looking forwards to getting one in October for plague tale 2 as well as a lot of recent games like fallen order and assassin's Creed valhalla that I've saved to take advantage of better load times and whatever else it does.

So respect MS. You'll never get ff7 by the looks of it but my wife plans to get a ps5 one day so I don't mind.

Actually I never had an Xbox before the Series S. I really wanted one during the 360 era but then lost interest with Xbox One thanks to the messy launch. I’ve owned every Nintendo home console until the pandemic made me switch to PC and then to Xbox and I have zero regrets. Game Pass really gives the console value.

As a kid i was Sega. Jumped into the original PlayStation on release and owned every PlayStation console released including handhelds. I owned a 360 and played it heaps, in fact it eclipsed the PS3 for me, but never picked up a Xbone……by the end of the PS4 cycle , actually long before that i started getting bored, i could never settle into any of the exclusives, i’d buy them but never complete them…. picked up a Switch on release and had loads of fun. This generation I preordered a PS5 and a Series S, i was so impressed by gamepass…. maybe partly cos i’d missed a whole generation that i just never opened the PS5 and ended up selling (at rrp) and i genuinely haven’t missed PlayStation up until now. I love gamepass, it’s changed what i play and how, bought my son an xbox , both my brothers have picked one up and my best mate, it’s great knowing we all have the same games and look forward to the new releases and announcements together. i’ll upgrade to a series X at some point but at the moment i’m happy with the series S and i’m still regularly impressed by what it does. Loving Xbox and everything they are doing.

I went Xbox > Xbox 360 > PS4 > XSX

Xbox One launch was a shambles and I felt Halo and Gears had lost their way a bit.

Plus I wanted to try Last Of Us and Little Big Planet.

The PS4 was fine, but I can't say the exclusive games grabbed me.... Not saying they were bad, but just not for me.

When this gen came around, the Xbox Series X looked better aesthetically them the PS5, I was starting to miss Halo and Gears, plus I wanted to try Forza Horizon 4 which I had missed out on.
Add on to that the value proposition of gamepass and the potential of xcloud, it was a simple choice.

Have been happy with my choice... something about Xbox just feels a bit less clinical/commercial than the PS experience... though I can't really out my finger on why.

The PS4 was decent enough and I'm sure the PS5 owners will be happy with their choice too.
Never really got the tribal warfare between some gamers (on both sides of the console divide)... seems daft.

I never had an Xbox before, only had a PS2 on 2008. I played on PC since then until 2019 that I bought a switch. I moved in with my GF in 2020 so we started looking for something to play heavy games so when the Series S got announced it was like a miracle. Now we have a brand new console to play for the entire gen and that is going to play any game for the next 5 years and we bought the expansion card just to make sure the console is going to last for years. And gamepass it's awesome value. Our switch now is just for Nintendo exclusives and some indies.

I tried pc game pass and loved having a great catalogue of games to try. My laptop handled games around 30-40 fps. I loved the Xbox showcase and knew I wanted the X series. It’d play the games I was enjoying way better and I upgraded my tv too. So far it’s been amazing. Playing new games playing last gen games and playing retro games. Nintendo, PC, and Sony are going to have to do a lot to get me to switch. The marketplace ecosystem makes sense to me. Play games, get Microsoft rewards to play more games. The other two console manufacturers are money hungry. Switch was making too many remakes and Sony only really specialized in single player games.

I'm back with Xbox again with the Series X. I've been with Xbox since the OG in the early and Halo 1. I loved that for the LAN parties we had with friends. Xbox 360 was absolutely amazing with it's focus on Xbox Live & lots of great party features, being able to play any music whenever you wanted & introducing Xbox Live arcade along with a bunch of great multimedia features. Hated the red rings of death which, imo, hurt them going into Xbox One. Xbox One just felt too Windows 8 for me, I hated it. Now I loved to still game online but my friends were older, many moved to PS4 and so it was, only me and one person had the latest & greatest. As my life moved on and I moved around the world, I sold my home consoles (Xbox One and my PS4 slim, yes, had one it was cool but the controller couldn't hold a charge), I primarily gamed on my Nintendo Switch. So spent a lot of time on Nintendo Life, have been a long time fan of Nintendo but had missed the Gamecube & Wii eras. After plugging a couple thousand hours on that, pretty sure I gave myself some gamer arthritis or something and was longing for those 360 days. When I saw the Series X, I was a bit skeptical & I had Twitter bots helping me grab either a PS5 or a Series X, with the first console in the cart being the start to next gen. And boy oh boy was I happy af that it was a Series X. I have held onto my Xbox games for YEARS, literally 20 years in some cases, and it was a great experience dropping all my discs in and finding they still work & even have some minor upgrades. The system is lightning fast & Game pass is way better than it was back in 2017 with Sea of Thieves. The new exclusives are great, plenty to play and plenty of space for me to game. The controllers are just so much more comfortable than I remember & there are plenty of sales so I'm always buying more than I can play. Love that Xbox is bringing more Japanese & indie games to the console. Best value on the market right now. Will pick up a collector's edition / special edition of either a Series S, another X or next iteration when there's something special. The focus on accessibility and listening to fans really feels genuine compared to Nintendo (although the Switch had a better overall library imo they just always do things "the Nintendo" way which sometimes is bad for consumers, joy con drift, no adaptive controllers, etc.) I only have praise for Xbox at this moment in time & the future looks bright! Phil Spencer is also a joy. So there's my long story. It's a great value console, ultra powerful, looks great on my OLED and it plays a lot of my favorite games from yesterday and fantastic next gen titles too.

The series x/s didn't bring me back to xbox... the prospect of another fable game did.

I had a regular Xbox One, so in a sense I never left. But it sat idol bc I hated the loading times. Plus I am more of a Nintendo guy, but occasionally get the itch to play more sophisticated games. Decided to take advantage of the speed, GamePass and backwards compatibility. I got the Series X or the S mainly for the drive for my library and to serve as a complete entertainment hub for my DVDs….

Initially my wife and I traded back and forth between the original Xbox and PS2 several times (remember EB games?). I had an Xbox 360 and never owned a PS3. I bought a PS4 after the Dan Mattrick unveil debacle along with the initial mandate of Kinect. I was satisfied with the PS4 so I never saw a reason to get a XBone.

I was able to buy a Series X through Gamestop in a bundle last year after trying for months to get a PS5. I saw value in game pass and it was the primary seller for me. I've been very happy with the Series X and given the decisions Sony has been making the last few years I don't see much reason to get a PS5 at least until the inevitable slim redesign, if at all.

Nah I've been Xbox since 360 days, turning away from PlayStation after legendary ps2. I loved the ps2 but I went to my pals, who had a 360 and I was blown away with it. Next day I went and got a 360.

I definitely abandon Xbox for the PS4. I got a One to play Gears 4, but never touched it after that. Then my buddy started talking up GamePass and told how you could convert up to three years of Xbox Live Gold to GP Ultimate for $1...(on top of that he gave me the hookup because he worked at a Microsoft store at the time and I payed WAY under for 3 years of XbLG) This was around the time Outter Wolrds came out and it was on GP day one, so I played it on there and I think Gears 5 came out after that. I was feeling the pros of GP at that point and upgraded to a One X so I could start getting into 4k gaming and after that I started playing my PS4 a LOT less. Any time a 3rd party game came out I would get it for the Xbox and once the Series X was announced I was a little skeptical until Sony blundered almost everything about PS5 and I knew I'd be back in the Xbox camp until the PS5 had a price drop (or naughty dog released a new game). I got lucky and got my Series X in December for retail, have been in love with it and all the amazing features ever since!!!!

No, i don't bail out when things get difficult

Yea, kinda. I had a Xbox One X that I never used, but the announcement of the Series X really got me back on board.

I am sure I dont need to re-cap the horrible messagning mess that was the Xbone's launch. This time around, XBox had a spot-on message, IMO. Full on, out of the door embrace of backwards compatibility, assurances that XBox One libraries would carry over, the reveal of Smart Delivery, Game Pass, hell, even things as simple as letting us use our XBox One controllers on the Series X if we so wished, instead of forcing us to buy a ton of controllers for those days we have friends over. Having the superior hardware specs sure helped, too.

It was XBox at its most-pro-consumer mode ever.

Oh and the Bethesda acquisition, it was not certain then but it was obvious to me: the future of Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Doom, Wolfenstein, Starfield, it was all going to be XBox First Party console exclusive.

This at the same time PlayStation refused to say a word about PS5 being compatible with PS4 games, and starting to act a lot more like they did during the PS3 release window.

Last gen I was primarily a PS4 gamer. This time around, I also secured myself a PS5, but I'm XBox first now. My PS5 is there only for a handful of first party exclusives.

No, I feel like I am one of the few people who always thoroughly enjoyed the Xbox One and always preferred it over the PS4, even to this day. Glad I was into the Xbox One like I was as well, I got all the great Xbox One Forza games in my library and loads of classics that aren't even offered anymore. All of it playable on my Series X and most of the time enhanced as well. Going from Xbox One to Series X is honestly one of the smoothest transitions imaginable. Everything simply works.

Series X is my first XBox console. I used to be Nintendo exclusive ever since NES. In 2016 after feeling like there wasn’t enough to play on Wii U, I ventured out and got a PS4. Within a month of the Series X And PS5 releases, I decided to try to get both of them. I got the PS5 in Dec 2020 and the Series X in Nov 2020. I got the Series X for one reason: Game Pass. If Game Pass wasn’t a thing I would have never bought it. I love having all 3 consoles.

Yeah i skipped last gen due to ditching Xbox because of the dreadful start and what MS had planned. As the Series S was cheap, Gamepass is great and there's a number of games i missed last gen Xbox wise i decided last year was a good time to jump back in, its also nice having access to games like Fallout 3 and Red Dead Redemption as well.

Forza 5 Horizon was the hook, the Series S was the sinker for me. I missed out Xbox One on since I only had PS4 last gen.

I played the death out of it for months. Today, I just opened up my new Series X to replace it with. A much better match for my large TV.

My faith was restored in the Xbox brand after seeing Phil Spencer on stage. Picked up an Xbox One X soon after.

Microsoft rewards bought me back to xbox it paid for my Series X it paid for my gamepass it pays for my games .

It is the biggest bargain in gaming

loved the 360 , the one was a mess. needed kinect ,cost a bomb all that online always stuff and when i actually held the pad it felt cheap and nasty next to my 360 pad.
i got the ps4, and still prefer playstation now, buying the ps5 first and it being my primary console even though the same games are much cheaper on xbox.
i never got round to playing most of the 360 games that got 4k enhanced and i missed a whole gen of xbox exclusives which were a few quid each by now and the eventual exclusivity of zenimax made buying a series x a good choice.
the new xbox pad feels very high quality with an amazing d-pad and on a technical level apart from the hard drive it is superior to the ps5 with regard to working with hdmi 2.1 tv's.
i don't like xbox's push toward a subcription instead of physical ownership and streaming instead of buying a console and it basically needs to be online always now aswell to work.

Ive always had all consoles, but we tend to game on ps5 more this gen, as we did ps4 last gen.
I like to have access to game pass as its value is unmatched, so we have a series X, but its only there for gaps in the schedule of games for us, and this year ive barely used it cause Ive had so many other titles I want to play.
Choice is never bad, and xbox offers us loads of choice.

I was definitely a lapsed Xbox player once the Switch came out. Portability became a lot more important to me as I had less time to play on main TV screen.
Since stadia and xcloud have come along that has brought me back to Xbox. That and getting a free Series S.

Not really. Bought one to play Starfield and stalker 2, probably sell afterwards.

It did not bring be back to XBox as i never had one before. It's really good system, though, and i'm very happy for having it!

So I bought a playstation 5 at launch. Being a long time playstation fan and pretty much all of my favorite games are on PS4. My pro console was worth a decent amount and I couldn't see the new console going down anytime soon so I took the plunge.

I haven't played a great amount of new games on it being honest, then or now. I had a bad week at work and the series s came back in stock around march on very so I put it on my account to spread the cost over the year. I was really intrigued by game pass but absolutely couldn't warrant spending series x money on a secondary console and a bit of a whim.

I figured final fantasy looked beautiful and that was running on old hardware (well mostly, on pro) and displayed at 1440p or something like that. Making me feel that I wouldn't be missing THAT much.

It was also quite novel having a lesser machine from launch, pretty sure that's never happened. Something I've always like with American cars. You can get a base model or spend all the $$$ but still get a somewhat similar experience.

It's so small and easy to move I've brought with me places I would have never have bothered with before. And the game pass £1 deal really sucked me in too. Right now it's well worth the £11 they are asking for. Whether or not that will always be my opinion we will have to wait and see.

I haven't had an Xbox since 360 because I remember Microsoft not wanting you to be able to resale games (something they have achieved now but with the option of sharing games and super quick loading etc you kind of have forgotten about).

That and their exclusive games for a long time mostly haven't appealed to me. Now however it's my most used console. Sony haven't released anything of interest to me lately and I'm just not interested in paying £70 for games.

My favorite experiences this gen so far have widely been games I wouldn't have bought usually. Trying them on game pass and if I love them that much, I've bought them anyway.

I'm sure some awesome exclusives will come on the playstation. But nothing yet, nothing worth risking £70 anyway. Next thing Xbox needs for me is to attract more of the Japanese developers.

I’ve been Playstation since the PS1, never owned an Xbox. Always been satisfied with PS as they have the best games. This gen i got PS5 at release an my missus bought me the Series X for Christmas 2021. It’s a fantastic machine and well worth getting. I’ll probably never buy an Xbox game due to Game Pass. Will buy 3rd party games on PS5 for the haptic pads an faster load times.

Sold my XBox One X due to constantly missing out on great exclusives. So I got myself a PS4 pro, and realised there was a lot of little things that bothered me. Their store for example, was not great, and the issues have not been fixed since the ps3 era (I used to have all Sony consoles before the Xbox One X). Other issues like fan noise, controller drift, and interface made me miss my XBox.

Ultimately, it came down to Game Pass though. I just felt Game Pass is just too good an offer and I preferred to play a wide range of games and try out new titles that I otherwise would not have tried if it wasn't for Game Pass.

Series X and even more gamepass sold me on Xbox ecosystem. As someone that was very casual PC gamer and grabbed into the hobby on a daily basis by Switch in 2017 I have rechead a point (age) where playing at the PC desk was no longer confortable and therefore I bought one last year. And I am loving it (ok, the UI is fine but not great)

Yes, Series X has brought me back to Xbox and I’m loving it. I was ‘away’ from gaming for the best part of a decade - completely skipped the XB1/PS4 generation & the step up from XB360/PS3 to current gen is eye watering. Loving Gamepass and the graphics on Series X at 4K 60fps is like dreamland for my eyes. This is what gaming is meant to be like, and something I could never have imagined back in the days of my Atari 400!

The Bethesda deal brought me back.

Yes I did return with this gen, was exclusive to playstation last gen. Gamepass vs $70 games brought me back and the general arrogance of Sony reminded me of the general arrogance of microsoft last gen. That the Series X is the superior platform this gen is just icing on the cake. Oh and the Bethesda deal was not a small part of that decision.

The reason I'm back to xbox after xbox one fiasco is because gamepass looks good and xbox series s isn't expensive, so although I already have ps5, I still want to try series s. After trying the console about 1-2 month, I'm back to xbox ecosystem again

Gamepass is really great, I like that the cloud safe is free, and the console can play dolby atmos in games and netflix, so in the end I bought series x and made it my main console this gen.

Full disclosure it wad the E3 rvent where the always connected and etc drove me to get a PlayStation. I didn't look back. But with time I watched Xbox game pass grow and the new system, and the new studio's that xbox had gained. I just new this generation was gonna be a xbox powerhouse time

Yep Series X got me back to Xbox after PS4 then 360 before it. Xbone One was just terrible, hence the PS4. But I did find that I personally prefer the PS4 exclusives a lot more than Xbox ones so also bought a PS5.
Main draw for coming back was GamePass, however I do feel like it is a little overrated, a bit like Netflix. Both amazing until you've gone through the majority of whats on offer and not a lot of decent new stuff coming in. Therefore my current plan is to alternate between PS Extra/Premium and GP.
I like the £100 a year cost for PS side so have that for a year then will move onto GP monthly until I've gone through Starfield and Redfall (plus anything else new on there at that time) for next years exclusives.

Didn't really bring me back as I only had the One S very briefly, but its been great being a part of the ecosystem with the Series S. Cheap, small console that still plenty powerful, hundreds of gamepass games and a subscription that essentially pays for itself without any out of pocket costs, plus Forza Horizon and its been great so far.

May bump up to the big boy or if the come out with a discless model with Series X guts in the future but I'm content with the S as a secondary console at the moment!

I absolutely hated the Xbox one and DON MATTRICK what an absolute d£#@. Didn't have an Xbox all last gen.

Anyway Phil Spencer's the man, great work. I get the exclusives arguement. No Dreams, Spiderman or Ghost of Tsushima over here and nothing so far which can compete with those particular styles. But PS doesn't have Forza Horizon, Halo (the MCC is such a boss anthology) or Ori.

I'm literally keeping my PS5 for the very few exclusives I want which is literally just Spiderman 2 and FF7 remake part 2. The console looks terrible, the controller's uncomfortable and suffers terrible stick drift (both my controller's have bad drift and Ive hardly used them) it's not as quiet as the Xbox. The future line up is weak bar God of War and even then you are paying £70 on a calculated gamble.

The Xbox looks great, is quiet, comfortable and has day 1 exclusives. It also has MS rewards which is a boon for gamers. After buying some extra months of Gamepass ultimate Im hoarding my points so I can buy a bunch of games later this year (got my eye on The Stanley farable ultra deluxe and rogue legacy 2). Im 3/4 of the way there to own both with points alone.

Xbox has the upper hand in my eyes.

Well, to be honest neither the Series X/S nor the PS5 had much of ANYTHING in terms of Frontline first-party titles to offer for their entire first year post-launch. Flight Simulator, Forza Horizon 5, and Halo Infinite finally prompted me to invest in a Series X, but since then I only touch the first two occasionally and Halo Infinite has been a hot mess of missing features (343 apparently can't be bothered to put in the ability to play local splitscreen multiplayer without each person having to sign in with a separate account, which reeks of deliberate intent to discourage users from local vs. online multiplayer).

Right now my Switch gets SEVERAL TIMES the use of either my Series X or my PS5, for the simple reason that it actually has and continues to release games I want to play. If it wasn't for all the backwards compatible titles I own through XBox, the system wouldn't justify keeping it, let alone the cost to "upgrade". And yes, that factors in the largely underwhelming selection from Microsoft's latest showcase.

I went to Xbox this generation because my PC was due for an upgrade and parts were impossible to find for a reasonable price until now. But since the majority of games on Xbox are 60fps (or more) now, I don't see a major reason to upgrade my PC now

I think like many others the Series S (and maybe the X) was the first time an Xbox appealed to me. Generally I always disliked the designs and the way Xboxes where marketed - they always seemed to have a shallow number of genres and were very 'lad' orientated. Lots of generic looking Racers and Shooters.

Anyway I enjoy the S a lot and I liked the look of it straight away - but I still think Xbox has work to do on it's game variety and would argue the catalogue still isn't as interesting as Sonys and nowhere near Nintendo. Really I wanted an easy entry point into some AAA games with a PC-like fidelity. If I'm honest I was mostly drawn to the S due to the small size. I just don't want a large console around - hence no way was Sony going to sell me a PS5.

Since xbox360, I reverted to Playstation with its PS4. Did not bother with Xbox1, as the Playstation titles were really good. Ever since the 'next-gen' consoles were announced, I really wanted to get a PS5 console to play Horizon Forbidden West and upcoming PS5 titles, but its next to impossible to get my paws on it.

I considered getting the Xbox Series X, due to its SSD size and having a disc drive with a graphics card suited for native 4K graphics and upto 120Hz. I got one from my ISP, as game stores was also very hard to come by. It was bundled with the Xbox Gamepass Ultimate, and that service gave access to games I never ever considered or did not know about such as Tunic, Hellblade, A Plague Tale.

Also due to upcoming 'next-gen' titles from now Microsoft-owned companies such as Bethesda drawn me to the console. Also look forward to the 'next-gen' Witcher 3, and Dead Space.

Given Microsoft's approach to services and exclusives, I'll probably never buy an Xbox console again. But I have recently started engaging with Game Pass on PC, along with the Xbox quests that go with it, which marks the most sustained engagement I've had with any Xbox-branded services since the 360 era. So mission accomplished?

All that being said, almost every game I'm genuinely interested in releases on Switch, so that'll remain the platform that receives the majority of my attention. Especially now that the Monster Hunter Rise expansion is out.

But it is admittedly pretty neat that I can just log on and play Yakuza Kiwami 2, or the Ori games, or Trek to Yomi, or whatever at any point with a minimum of expense or hassle.

Being a console exclusive gamer, the regionalized xbox store is one of the best things that happened to me in my gaming life. It is a life changer (I live in Argentina).

Nah. Mcc and Xbox one.

Absolutely. I loved the 360, easily my favourite console of that generation, I played it loads. Amazingly powerful given it came out a year before the PS3, and it had great games, great online. Just a really good console.

Then the Xbox One happened, and the TV TV TV / forced kinect thing, combined with the fact my PC was more powerful - put me right off that gen. The PS4 was better, but tbh still not good enough to make me want to buy one. That generation was weird, the hardware was underwhelming compared to even an average, affordable gaming PC, and games were becoming more and more available on PC. So I stick with PC and then Switch for that whole generation.

But now? The SeriesX is the first console that's wow'd me for a long time. Microsoft came out guns a blazin' this generation, I like everything about it. I knew I had to get one as soon as I saw it and realised what it was capable of.

The speed, the power, the immediacy, quick resume, and of course GamePass has quickly made it out of the best consoles ever imo. It's astonishingly quiet too, just a great piece of hardware.

I have a powerful PC with a GTX3070 - which is great, and select titles are obviously better on it - but I still play the SeriesX more. I love the back compatibility, I love FPS boost and the ability to retroactively enhance older games, and I love quick resume.

I forgot to mention regarding multi-platform games such as Cyberpunk 2077, AC Valhalla, and Elden Ring, the XBS/X consoles can equally run them as well as the PS5, so that was also another reason I opted for the Xbox.

Don't really see the point in buying an Xbox when I already have a powerful computer that will be able to play all the exclusives.

Nah, I've had every Xbox since the first. I held out on Xbox One for a while, but jumped on a couple of years in… Juggling between Xbox series X, Playstation 5, Switch and iOS/Windows at the moment (I've dedicated my Xbox One and Playstation 4 to my kids)… Series X getting a bit more time than the others. I'm a subscriber of Game Pass Ultimate and PS+ Extra, the latter is a disappointment compared but I cling to a sliver of hope… I think Xbox is superior this generation, I prefer the controller, the official headset (have both, you really have to think about what you're doing to control the Pulse 3D compared to intuitive controls of the Xbox Wireless – better mid range in PS5, but in total the Xbox Wireless come out on top) and the hardware/software of the console. My closest friends are Playstation-fanatics though, so it's not collecting dust… the DualSense would've been great if its rumbling didn't rattle as much playing with low to no sound. Feels broken almost. I'm comparing mine to the three I have access to at work and yeah, it's not just mine… and it's battery? A joke compared. Playstation exclusive single player games are good though!

I am someone who returned to Xbox after a long hiatus. I had bought the original Xbox back in the launch window and Xbox had been a big part of my gaming through about 2010, but when my 360 got hit with the red ring of death I moved on to exclusively Nintendo/PC. After dabbling with PS4 I had planned on getting a PS5 after selling my gaming PC (and because PC parts were so pricey back then), but as an adult gamer who cares less about exclusives and more about value, convenience and backwards compatibility so I can play all the games I missed, Xbox really knocked it out of the park for me and I bought Series X day one. It really helped too that they bought one of my favorite developers in Bethesda. I almost don't play anything else right now, Xbox and Game Pass is enough to keep me entertained forever.