The launch and pre-order dates for Microsoft’s Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X consoles are official. To sum everything up, both next-gen consoles will launch November 10, the Series X will cost $US500 ($691), the Series S will cost $US300 ($414), and you can pre-order starting September 22.
Some of these details aren’t exactly new. The Xbox Series, along with its budget-friendly price, leaked over the weekend, and info about the Series X has been trickling in for months. But on top of the pre-order date, Microsoft also announced today that it’s expanding its Xbox All Access program to 12 more countries for the 2020 holiday season, with “more to come in 2021.”
The whole shebang will include an Xbox. Series X , as well as 24 months of full Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. For the Xbox Series S, that’s $US25 ($35) a month and for the Series X that’s $US35 ($48) a month. EA Play will also come to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC gamers for no additional cost this holiday season.
“Xbox Series S is designed around the same technology that will make these games and so many others look and feel incredible,” Microsoft writes in the announcement blog. “In speaking to game developers, we identified the areas that are most difficult to scale effectively, including the CPU and I/O, and made it easy to include Xbox Series S for developers who are targeting their experiences for Xbox Series X.”
Microsoft then went on to confirm on top of being powered by the same Xbox Velocity Architecture, the Series S will support HDMI 2.1, frame rates of up to 120fps, DirectX Raytracing, Variable Rate Shading, and Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision via streaming apps (Dolby Vision for games to follow in 2021). A leaked trailer from yesterday was the first to float these details, while also adding that the Series S will have a custom 512GB SSD, 4K upscaling and media playback, and targets 1440p resolution at 120fps.
If you’re not keen on subscribing to your Xbox both will be available for pre-order starting September 22, and arriving in stores November 10.
Originally published by Gizmodo