Just a couple of years ago, the Xbox Series S felt like a great holiday gift idea. I was able to pick up a console for $250 during Black Friday and introduce my brother to this generation of console gaming. He just had to buy a Game Pass for Console subscription, and he suddenly had access to a big library of current-gen games and all of Xbox’s first-party titles the day they released. Sure, games didn’t run quite as well on the slightly less powerful console, but it was good enough for a casual gamer like him.
Following the price hikes announced today by Microsoft, the Xbox Series S no longer feels like such a good deal. While it’s still the cheapest way into current-gen gaming, the entire Xbox ecosystem has been price gouged to the point where the Xbox Series S no longer has a clear or appealing platform identity.
When Microsoft first unveiled the Xbox Series S in September 2020, it was positioned as “the smallest, most affordable next-generation console.” But although it was a little weaker than the Xbox Series X and would display games at lower resolutions, it was $200 cheaper. And most importantly, it would play all the same games as Xbox Series X.
It was a Game Pass machine, as buying the console and several months of Game Pass still wasn’t as expensive as buying an Xbox Series X. “If you just want to access what the platform offers now or what’s to come in Xbox’s future, and don’t mind the gap in graphical details and storage space, this is the Xbox for you,” GameSpot stated in its 2020 review.
Over time, though, the cracks in the Xbox Series S’s value proposition started to show. Its lower specs impacted which games were being ported to both Xbox consoles. Most famously, Baldur’s Gate 3 was a PS5 console exclusive at first because Larian Studios couldn’t achieve parity between the Xbox Series X and S versions of the game.
Xbox compromised with the studio and let Larian ship a version of Baldur’s Gate 3 on Series S without local co-op, despite the feature being available on Series X. From that point on, Xbox Series S didn’t feel like a true next-gen console anymore.
Then the price increases began, starting with Game Pass. In 2024, Game Pass for Console was discontinued, and the cheaper Standard and Core tiers no longer included day-one releases. In 2025, prices skyrocketed even higher. As of May 2026, prices are down slightly, but remain higher than the recent past. Right now, your Game Pass options are $10 a month for the limited Essential library, $15 a month for the Premium catalog that lacks day-one releases, or $23 a month for the Ultimate tier that includes everything.
As if those prices weren’t steep enough, we’re now seeing unprecedented spikes in console pricing. Because of component shortages and price increases driven by the AI boom, in which Microsoft is a major player, the Series S has seen its price rise multiple times over the past year or so.
Its retail price increased to $380 in May 2025, $400 in October 2025, and now $500 in August 2026. While it’s still cheaper than the Xbox Series X, “affordable” doesn’t feel like an accurate way to describe the Xbox Series S anymore.
The Xbox Series S felt affordable enough that I bought it as a gift a few years ago. I definitely would not do the same thing for an underpowered $500 console in 2026. I’d just give my brother some cash or a gift card and tell him to pick up a Nintendo Switch 2 or a refurbished PlayStation 5 Digital Edition for his current-gen gaming needs.
While the Xbox Series S was a clever way to give Xbox an enticing advantage over the competition in 2020, it now feels like an albatross dragging this generation down as it nears its end. Microsoft’s own choices to invest in AI and continually modify the price of Xbox Game Pass have completely ruined what was once one of its most appealing Xbox consoles.
