The rumours are out in force again! It was recently suggested that the reveal of the Xbox Series S was still on track for this month, but now following yesterday's Halo Infinite delay announcement, it might have been pushed back.
We're hearing this courtesy of industry insider Shinobi602 on ResetEra, who was asked to give his thoughts on Halo's delay, and dropped in the following hint:
"I think it's a blow to launch, no doubt. Infinite was a huge pillar behind the Series X, the big game Microsoft would center launch around. It's not the *only* selling point, but a big one. The decision to delay was no doubt a very, very difficult one to make. Having known people who had to get projects done in time for launch no matter the costs, it took some balls to call this by the studio, undoubtedly facing down a line of angry execs. Maybe however it is just a sign of the industry maturing, and not just deciding to break the team in order to launch at any cost...ultimately, it's for the best for the game and team.
At the same time, expect news about other Xbox stuff that's been going around recently to come a bit later too."
In response to those questioning him about this, Shinobi followed up by confirming that he felt "stuff" that was planned for this month had been pushed to next month. He didn't mention the Xbox Series S specifically, but we're assuming that's what he's referencing given the recent leaks. Make of this what you will!
Do you think Microsoft will push back the Series S reveal following yesterday's news? Give us your thoughts.
Comments 11
Makes sense as they were likely planning on having a showing of Halos multiplayer as a big part of the show and now they won't be showing it. I expect a change at 343i leadership after this and i wouldn't be surprised if Greenburg and/or someone else gets moved as well. They seem to be very reactive after a poor showing rather then proactively getting it right the first time. Still getting an XSX on boxing day but they are really doing a disservice to all the people who made these systems and ecosystem so great by dropping the ball on messaging.
My problem with pushing Series S news is that I assume pre orders won’t happen til September now as well for Series X.
@mousieone hmmmm so true. It's a tough situation. Do you just do a quick video release of the information or hold it off for a bigger show? Is it just a week or two delay or almost a full month? I imagine they weren't going to show anything until the last week of August anyway so if it's shown within the first 2 weeks of September it's not too bad. Plus they might go after Sony now to undercut the price? Will they just go with their lowest price point anyways now without Halo at launch?
It would be fun if the delay forced them to take a bigger loss on the hardware sales to get a financial upper hand on Sony's big launch. If they could "discount" the XSeX to make PS5 look overpriced, and "discount" XSeS to compete with Switch, they really could take on some market share. Though they wouldn't have the financials to show for it for at least a year....it would imitate the OG X-BOX launch by digging an excavation crater sized financial hole just to get market share.
If they just show up with no games and say $600 - most powerful evar!!1 We should get Mattrick back to head the marketing.
At this point it wouldn't be surprising if Series S reveal delayed to November, price revealed for both systems sometime after launch day. The real life version of "surprise mechanics".
If the rumored first or second week of November launch is correct, they NEED to get pricing and pre-orders up by end of the month, especially after the Halo news.
They have to undercut Sony at all costs and ideally secure something like AC or Cyberpunk for Game Pass now to perk things up a bit.
@NEStalgia I agree totally with you. With no big tent pole title, bad blood over Infinite's graphics and delay, two over hyped showcases that gave no real game play examples but plenty of cgi trailers while also failing to give rough dates for release, yeah Xbox really needs to up its game for launch.
They have the financial power to do stupidly low prices for the X/S (considering the tech in them), and right now I'd say that is their best weapon. Maybe also use that all that cash they have to secure a big new 3rd party release for gamepass in time for Christmas. If they really want many more people on the pass (ie converts from other systems or non gamepass xbox gamers), gotta lure them in with a real attention grabber of a game that's coming out -NOW- not 2022 or whatever.
If the X/S flop badly due to poor pricing and recent blunders vs PS5 then I think it is clear they will be microsoft's last xbox machines. Xbox will turn purely into a game service for other systems. Sadly part of me believes microsoft would be fine with that,
@Grumblevolcano ROFL. The sad part is I'm not even sure that's unrealistic!
@TanaD Yeah. The OG-XBox lost SERIOUS money, I mean it took the entire 360 gen to even MOSTLY pay back the losses. It was insane. But that's what it took to get even a foothold in the Sony/Nintendo world. They're at that turning point again, and I'm not sure they see it. They recovered great, or started a great recover with 1S/1X releasing like a do-over. I thought they were going to stop following Sony's defined generations and kind of establish a PC-like ecosystem of "upgrades whenever, 2 "generations" running together". Then they dropped XSeX announcements right after X1X. They seem to be scrambling to follow in lock-step with Sony, and I don't know why. They can define their own game and market position without matching Sony's cycles step by step. Just like X1X disrupted PS4, XSeX could have waited a few years, been even more powerful, and really put Sony off on the back heel again, forcing their next move (again.)
As-is, it's awkward. X1X forced Sony to make a move to PS5, clearly before they were actually ready. But for whatever reason rather than sitting back and dethroning them again when they're comfortable and keeping them off balance, MS raced to match them day and date, equally or more unprepared.
I half think this whole generation is going to be WiiU, with both Sony and MS declaring the need for a do-over in 4 years.
But that pricing is critical. With the Halo and messaging problems, MS's launch is looking very shaky, and I'm surprised they didn't delay the console. But they still have 100% power to salvage it and turn out to be the big winner. But they have to go back to that OG launch thinking and deeply subsidize hardware at a very big loss to anchor their market footprint. Sony is the arrogant market leader. They're going to come in asking a high price, because they can. Traditionally they're willing to undercut, but arrogant Sony is expensive Sony. They have more room to play with the discless version though. Since Sony is also unprepared to launch, humiliating them on price PS3vs360 style, in the middle of a recession/depression could flip the tea table on a dime. Whatever Sony lists as the price, undercut them by $100, eat the loss, sign up GP subs, and XSeX/S could become the dominant platform overnight. They have the money, but I'm not sure if they have the willingness.
Then again, X360 launched without any first party exclusives, either, and "won" the generation in the shadow of Wii/DS (Sony eventually "won" by selling the cheap stripped down version years after 360 stopped being produced.)
I really like Phil, but everyone they have designing the messaging hasn't been paying attention. Just a few weeks ago Phil was saying "This time we have Halo at launch!" as the defining thing as to what makes this launch different. He didn't know a few weeks ago the game wasn't going to be ready this year? Who is informing him?
@NEStalgia It feels like only Nintendo can end Sony and Microsoft's game of chicken. Nintendo reveals their holiday lineup, people get super excited for Switch this holiday and the loss of PS5/Series X interest forces Sony/Microsoft to reveal price.
Even if the Nintendo front ended up just being Wii U ports, there would be excitement because PS4 completely dominated the gaming scene in 2013.
@Grumblevolcano from what I'm hearing switch is in very high demand regardless so if they just have an animal crossing bundle it will likely go like hotcakes.
@Grumblevolcano I'm not sure New Super Mario Bros. Anthology Featuring Dante from Devil May Cry Series is going to end this stalemate.
This is rediculous and simply frustrating at this point though. 2 companies woefully unprepared for their own generation launch beating around the bush indefinitely with release date and price, refusing to accept orders or even tell anyone what it costs, while trying to drum up hype. Sony wants you to buy a $3000 tv to go with their console. Maybe that indicates what they want to charge. If so, PS4 may win 9th gen.
Got to admit though. I never imagined in a year with 2 x86 consoles releasing where nintendo has no new games, nintendo still would "win e3"
On the other hand it tells us BOTH Sony and Microsoft are willing to subsidize to undercut and are waiting each other out.... That could be great. However XSeX is on shelves in 12 weeks or less and we don't even have price tags.
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