Oh.  You actually went through with that. 

lol lmao even

Now, one comment regarding less pleasant stuff. Showcase being good is a one thing, but their new console lineup is a disaster.

- Series S is now 50$ more expensive. No more cheap 300$ 512 GB model.
- Series X starts at 449$. While this may sound good on paper, it now lacks a disc drive. So while being 50$ cheaper, it loses a feature. Still, this console in lineup is probably not as bad as the others, but I highly doubt that 50$ price reduction at the expense of disc drive is gonna help revive dying Series X sales, especially considering the previous point that Series S is now more expensive.
- Series X gets 2TB option with disc drive. And it's... 599$. Microsoft really wants to get rid of physical media on Xbox so down bad that they now lock disc drive option behind this super premium model. I guess, physical media people now better get a second job or something. Also the fact that they state it as a Special Edition kinda hints that it might be limited and discontinued relatively soon.

As a result, Series X is now more accessible than ever, technically. Starting at 449$. But Xbox now loses on price against PS5. PS5 digital is the same 449. But disc drive PS5 is 499, while Xbox is 599.

Yeah, honestly it feels like Xbox has pretty much given up on moving hardware units this gen, it's all about the profit margin for them. There used to be a time when a company like Microsoft would see the long-term benefits of a larger install base, more hardware sold equals more people buying digital games where they get 30% of each sale on 3rd party and everything on 1st and 2nd party, more gamepass subs, more controllers and other accessories sold (each of which sells at a profit). These days though, it feels like they want to turn a profit on the hardware itself, instead of selling the hardware at a loss and making up that loss later via software, subscription, and accessories. 

If they cared about moving hardware, Series S would have dropped to $250 512 GB and $300 1 TB, X digital at $400, and X 2 TB at $500, replacing the old 1 TB X model at that price. They would also have bundles planned for this Holiday, 1st party like Avowed and Indiana Jones, and 3rd party like AC Shadows and Dragon Age Veilguard.

I just hope they don't repeat the same mistake with hardware pricing again next-gen. They could potentially have a 1 year headstart over Sony if the Holiday 2026 leaks were true (and honestly Sarah mentioning next-gen hardware today makes me think they may even be planning to announce next-gen on the Summer 2025 showcase and release it Holiday 2025), they can't afford to waste the advantage of an early lead by pricing this next-gen hardware way too high.

Ah yes, as it was foretold in the prophecy. 

They must launch next gen in 2025 at this point. This year is looking more than likely that they will finish around 5-6m consoles sold maximum. It's worse than any Xbox One year before 2020 (when Series X launched) and Xbox One still managed to sell 4m+. With such shit pricing they won't be able to drag this gen all the way into late 2026. As for Sony I think it's hardly unlikely that they launch PS6 in 2026. PS5 Pro is coming soon? I think. They wouldn't bother with it if they wanted to launch PS6 in 2026. 

I just watched it openminded, you know

I thought these were just new Xbox Series X|S models and the 512 GB Series S isn't going anywhere. I do agree it should be $250 for the 512GB Series S and $300 for the 1TB Series. While the digital Series X should be $400 and the standard Series X $450.

Honestly Sony may have cancelled PS5 Pro last minute after they heard the leaks about Xbox planning to get a headstart on them in 2026. PS5 Pro was said to be releasing later this year, you would think they would have announced it on their Summer State of Play a week ago, but they didn't. So if it's still coming later this year, or releasing at all, I have no idea when Sony will announce it, their next State of Play probably won't be till around Gamescom time in August I imagine, maybe even later, are they going to announce PS5 Pro like 1-2 months before it releases in November? Maybe they cancelled it and moved up their PS6 plans from the original plan of 2027-2028 to Holiday 2026. No idea.

In what world does MS getting a head start really benefit them when Sony releasing a PS6 a year+ after Xbox Series 2 will likely outsell its ltd sales at launch 😂 .. plus … I’d wager that 99.9% of all games will still be cross platform, Series S1 going for the double gen holdback.

The dumbest thing Sony can do right now is to move the PS6 launch to 2026 just because Xbox launching early. That would be like moving PS2 launch one year earlier just because SEGA launches Dreamcast.