It's no wonder they're unwilling to abandon the Series S when it's selling so well for them.
Don't do this to yourself.
Just like how Genesis systems were selling well for Sega to the big box retailers in the early '90s. 'Cuz sell-in is the same thing as sell-through eh?
At least Xbox does consolidated accounting :/
(*Genesis kid here BTW, so it kinda pains me to have even typed that. But it's true
)
I wonder what this place would do without Microsoft news?
I'll give you that. Mascot Phil™ got all of Xbox to turn into mascots with this ABK deal. All these deets getting leaked out, keeping them in the news.
Just kinda wild how quickly we've moved on from Starfield I guess :/
Anyway, series S was huge in the pandemic.
Was it really? They were barely keeping pace with XBO and since end of 2022 had fallen behind. That's with plenty of Series S units to go around.
Were retailers buying the systems up? Yep. But the sell-through rates must've been downright horrid for Microsoft to get as aggressive with discounts, software giveaways, promotions, tie-ins and all the such they started doing back half of last year.
They are fucked with this 4tf.
They will need to make a short gen.
TBH I don't think the power is the problem; it's the use-case. Series S doesn't have a very strong use-case for people who aren't already entrenched in the Xbox ecosystem. As a 2nd console for PS5 owners it offers little because they get 90% of the same multiplats which just run way better on Sony's system, and the "exclusives" are all on PC Day 1. People with a PS5 are more likely to have a decent PC than a Series S. Also offers no portability options.
As a 2nd console for Switch owners, a lot of them are more likely to have a PS5 than Xbox since they can access all the same multiplats Xbox has, plus some 3P exclusives not on Xbox, in addition to all of Sony's 1P games. And, like with Sony customers, they are likely to have a decent PC if they really need any of Microsoft's games, since MS puts everything Day 1 over there. Switch also offers a docked option for those who want a console-like experience in the home, weakening a use-case for Series S.
Honestly the Series S just doesn't have too much of an addressable market for those who aren't already entrenched in Xbox consoles. Relying on penny-pinchers going cheap over recession concerns, isn't a reliable market to depend on for long-term sales.