Rumor: Xbox Series S $299 price potentially leaked

The as-yet unconfirmed design and price of the Xbox Series S has been leaked, along with a release date for both next-gen Xbox consoles.

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The Xbox Series S price, design, and release date has been leaked, according to reports. These rumors, though unconfirmed, seem to indicate that the Series S will be priced at a cool $299 USD and will be significantly smaller than that of the Xbox Series X.

UPDATE: The official Xbox Twitter account has come out and confirmed that the Xbox Series S is real and has a price point of $299 USD. The tweet states that more details will be shared soon.

Twitter user WalkingCat has come out and leaked the full Xbox Series S reveal video. This video suggests that the Xbox Series S is the smallest Xbox console to date, nearly 60% smaller than the Series X. The video also claims the Series S features a custom 512GB NVMe SSD, no disc drive, 1440P at frame rates of up to 120FPS, 4K streaming media playback, 4K upscaling for games, DirectX ray-tracing, variable rate shading, and a variable refresh rate.

Xbox Series S price design release date
The rumored Xbox Series S design was first leaked by Brad Sams.

Reports started surfacing about the Xbox Series S price and design on September 7, 2020. First reported by Brad Sams, the Xbox Series S is potentially releasing at $299 USD. As for the design, it looks to feature a rather large, circular vent on its top, and is otherwise a slim, disc-less version of the Xbox Series X.

Though Microsoft has yet to confirm these leaks, further credence is given to the rumor by Twitter user, WalkingCat. This individual shared a snippet from what appears to be an Xbox unveiling video.

The clip in question shows the Xbox Series S contrasted against the Xbox Series X. The video highlights the slim design of the Series S, which looks to be similar to the design of the Xbox One X and Xbox One S.

Windows Central has also thrown its hat into the rumor ring with claims of the price of the Xbox Series X as well as payment plans via Xbox All Access. According to the report, players will be able to pick up the Xbox Series S for the aforementioned $299 USD or finance it for $25 USD per month. As for the Xbox Series X, rumor has it the price will sit at $499 USD or a $35 USD per month pricing plan.

The report goes on to say that the release date for the Xbox Series X and Series S will be November 10, 2020.

Whether or not any of this is accurate remains to be seen as Microsoft has yet to recognize the existence of the Xbox Series S, despite official marketing for it appearing in the wild. We’ll be sure to keep you updated when Microsoft does make an announcement regarding its next-gen console.

Head of Guides

Hailing from the land down under, Sam Chandler brings a bit of the southern hemisphere flair to his work. After bouncing round a few universities, securing a bachelor degree, and entering the video game industry, he's found his new family here at Shacknews as Head of Guides. There's nothing he loves more than crafting a guide that will help someone. If you need help with a guide, or notice something not quite right, you can message him on X: @SamuelChandler 

From The Chatty
  • reply
    September 7, 2020 9:22 PM

    Sam Chandler posted a new article, Rumor: Xbox Series S $299 price potentially leaked

    • reply
      September 7, 2020 9:39 PM

      I assume that’s the “your bandwidth cap is gonna be a problem “ edition

      • reply
        September 7, 2020 9:43 PM

        I always see this thrown around as a "problem" for consoles and never PC. Never used against Steam, either.

        • reply
          September 8, 2020 8:16 AM

          Steam is really, really good about bandwidth because of differential patching. I'm amazed that this is not a standard feature on other store fronts.

      • reply
        September 8, 2020 1:30 AM

        Yes, there's non optical drive.

    • reply
      September 7, 2020 10:26 PM

      PS5 better be $1,200 so they can be like 10x the power!

    • reply
      September 8, 2020 1:31 AM

      [deleted]

      • reply
        September 8, 2020 1:40 AM

        [deleted]

        • reply
          September 8, 2020 1:59 AM

          We can construct a system of inequalities!

          $499 <= ps5
          ps5 - $50 <= ps5digital <= $299

          • reply
            September 8, 2020 2:14 AM

            Not quite following your formula, but there's no chance Sony comes in at 299 just by removing that $20 optical drive part.

            • reply
              September 8, 2020 2:20 AM

              I just mean we know it must be more than $299.

              Removing the optical drive saves ~$50 since you save the $20 for the drive, and the $25 to the BR consortium for the playback licence.

              You could potentially knock more than $50 off the price since discless users are tied to the store and can't buy or borrow from friends, but that would require some upfront investment which Sony may not want to do. That seems to be how MS have the S price so low.

        • reply
          September 8, 2020 5:39 AM

          I really don’t think you can make that assumption. I think PS5 will launch at $499 and $599. Sony doesn’t sell their consoles at a loss. Then I think you see MS at $299 and $499.

    • reply
      September 8, 2020 2:02 AM

      Oh, £249 confirmed UK pricing according to EG, that's nice.

      • reply
        September 8, 2020 2:11 AM

        Yeah that's firmly impulse buy territory even if the lineup is mostly BC games.

        • reply
          September 8, 2020 2:25 AM

          A ps5 plus S combo looks quite tempting.

        • reply
          September 8, 2020 11:30 AM

          Considering all the BC games I care about I own on disc, that’s a moot point (for me, and probably all those who want BC for their OG Xbox games).

      • reply
        September 8, 2020 4:24 AM

        [deleted]

        • reply
          September 8, 2020 2:50 PM

          The 3060 would likely wipe the floor.. the leak i saw on the 3060 after they revealed the 3080/3090 was it would have 4096 Cuda Cores & ~14 TFLOPS so similar performance to the 2080Ti actually. Which honestly is nuts considering it will likely be selling around a very similar price.

          The XB Series S has around 4 TFLOPS GPU power.

    • reply
      September 8, 2020 2:12 AM

      Full reveal video supposedly leaked. 1440p, 512GB (meh, expandable at least), 4k upscaling (no surprise)... https://twitter.com/_h0x0d_/status/1303252607759130624

      Really hope I don't regret buying a 1440p PC gaming monitor that doesn't do HDMI 2.1 VRR, LOL. Guess I won't notice.

      • reply
        September 8, 2020 2:22 AM

        It won't download the 4k textures so it won't need as much storage, I think. I can imagine getting the same number of games installed at once.

        • reply
          September 8, 2020 2:32 AM

          Oh, true! I forgot MS had smart delivery shit like that.

        • reply
          September 8, 2020 4:08 AM

          Will the more expensive one support true 4K?

          • reply
            September 8, 2020 5:25 AM

            The XBSX you mean? Yes, that's supposed to play xb1 games at 4k60.

            • reply
              September 8, 2020 5:46 AM

              Do you think devs will bother targeting that platform if 90% of xboxes sold are the S models?

              Or are game engines advanced enough now to seamlessly downgrade without requiring additional dev work?

              • reply
                September 8, 2020 5:50 AM

                Most analysts believe it'll be just like developing for the PC and it's range of specs. Conceptually that makes sense. But, I also assume developers wrestle with that a lot, which is one of the draws of developing for a console which has a single locked spec. Until recently with the X and Pro variants that is. So now we're getting more of that spread with MS's path. 2021 is going to be a very interesting year for gaming.

              • reply
                September 8, 2020 5:51 AM

                [deleted]

              • reply
                September 8, 2020 6:11 AM

                It's just a resolution change, so it should be pretty simple.

                • reply
                  September 8, 2020 6:20 AM

                  Will both consoles support stuff like RTX?

                  • reply
                    September 8, 2020 6:22 AM

                    Yes, the XBSX just has fewer and slower CUs, that's all. It's like the Switch handheld and docked.

                    • reply
                      September 8, 2020 6:30 AM

                      Ahh ok, that makes sense. I'll probably go with the X then, so I don't miss out on anything :)

    • reply
      September 8, 2020 2:15 AM

      A friend of mine made a great point - the Series S can use the same silicon with some GPU cores disabled. Loses them less money on each wafer, basically, because more of it is useable for one or the other console. SMERT

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        September 8, 2020 4:19 AM

        Maybe less memory since it doesn't have to go to 4k either?

        • reply
          September 8, 2020 4:29 AM

          Very likely, yes.

      • reply
        September 8, 2020 8:31 AM

        Yeah they’re binned series x parts

        • reply
          September 8, 2020 10:57 AM

          Point being, Sony doesn’t have that benefit.

    • reply
      September 8, 2020 4:18 AM

      Man I bought a fancy 1TB SSD for like $350 a week ago so I mean this seems like a pretty sweet deal for a filthy casual

    • reply
      September 8, 2020 5:13 AM

      Alright. So I'm betting $25/mo for 2 years with Gamepass Ultimate included, XSX for $35/mo for 2 years.

      Which explains why they never shut the door on the Gamepass Ultimate upgrading / Xbox live stacking. They knew they'd be getting either cash up front for the console or you'd end up paying for gamepass twice.

      • reply
        September 8, 2020 5:36 AM

        I see your rationale. Although I thought they stopped selling the 3 and 12 month prepaid cards, so didn’t that effectively kill it anyway?

        • reply
          September 8, 2020 5:54 AM

          As far as I understand it there were massive quantities of retail cards still out there and available to be used. Some of the major legitimate key resellers still has them listed on their site and they regularly get discounted for use.

      • reply
        September 8, 2020 8:13 AM

        You can stack the codes from the subscription with your existing time, at worst you have to wait until you can apply them again due to the three year max limit

    • reply
      September 8, 2020 5:44 AM

      About time the cards started falling

      • reply
        September 8, 2020 2:46 PM

        Starting to get half a chub again...ok quarter chub

    • reply
      September 8, 2020 5:48 AM

      I wish my experience with game pass pc was better. Other than Streets of Rage and Minecraft Dungeons, I've had problems with crashes on other games I've tried. And the MP experience on Streets of Rage isn't great. I Still haven't been able to get FS2020 to work. I finally uninstalled it just to reclaim the space. I just installed FF XV, and it crashed just after the opening sequence.

      I'm wondering if the Xbox service overhead on games is too much for my CPU? I have plenty of ram, and the 2060 gpu is fine. So there's something else the Xbox variant doesn't like. Unless there's some kind of messy stuff going on with the OS itself. I've never liked how it's hard to tell how clean of an install of Windows you have unless you've done a fully nuke and install, but even then over time and installing stuff it just gets messy.

      • reply
        September 8, 2020 5:59 AM

        I have played wasteland 3, gears tactics, sea of thieves and grounded with no major problems on pc

    • reply
      September 8, 2020 6:06 AM

      It's faster than a One X correct?

      Honestly it might be enough for a lot of people in terms of performance.

      • reply
        September 8, 2020 6:17 AM

        It looks like it is Navi based with less RAM and smaller SSD. I assume the Navi chip has fewer cores enabled or is running at a much lower frequency. I bet is on the latter, since it doesn't need that massive cooling solution.

    • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
      reply
      September 8, 2020 6:35 AM

      Damn, that's impressive. Loss leader because of Game Pass I suppose?

    • reply
      September 8, 2020 6:36 AM

      https://www.windowscentral.com/xbox-all-access

      Xbox Series S will cost $299.99 at retail to buy outright, with a $25 per month Xbox All Access 24-month contract option.
      Xbox Series X will cost $499.99 at retail, with a $35 per month Xbox All Access 24-month contract option.

      Goddamn MS that's a fiiiiine deal.

      • reply
        September 8, 2020 6:41 AM

        840 USD is not cheap. But I understand the overhead required for rush mitigation.

        • reply
          September 8, 2020 6:42 AM

          Risk, ugh phone

        • reply
          September 8, 2020 6:43 AM

          15*25 + 500 = 860
          vs
          840

          Hmm.

          • reply
            September 8, 2020 6:43 AM

            er 15*24+500 = 860 vs 35*24 = 840
            that's what I meant :P

          • reply
            September 8, 2020 6:45 AM

            Did I fuck it up? It's midnight and I'm one eye posting again.

            35x24 is what I put in. I wouldn't even consider the shitty model

            • reply
              September 8, 2020 6:46 AM

              You did right. I'm saying its basically on part with buying the console + paying for game pass ultimate. It reads as an amazing deal.
              I just don't know the terms of ownership of the console at the end of life (2 years) yet.

              • reply
                September 8, 2020 6:47 AM

                Surely you own it!?

                It's a clever move for sure

            • reply
              September 8, 2020 6:48 AM

              It includes Game Pass Ultimate, which is $15 a month normally.

              $15 * 24 = $360

              $840 - $360 = $480.

              • reply
                September 8, 2020 6:49 AM

                Does that include Xbox Live?

                • reply
                  September 8, 2020 6:50 AM

                  Sure.

                  • reply
                    September 8, 2020 6:51 AM

                    This seems like a very smart move for them. I think they're gonna concrete some people in wth this subscription model shit

        • reply
          September 8, 2020 6:47 AM

          What? The monthly is just a payment plan if you can’t affect it outright. It’s not in addition to.

          • reply
            September 8, 2020 6:49 AM

            I assume that game pass is (virtually) free for them to run.

            This is an attempt to get more people in wth low initial cost.

            • reply
              September 8, 2020 6:49 AM

              Oh wasn’t getting the numbers. Never mind. Need more coffee :(

            • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
              reply
              September 8, 2020 7:04 AM

              Game Pass is not free, they pay for the games and recoup that cost from the subscription.

        • reply
          September 8, 2020 6:49 AM

          It's either $299/499 USD outright **or** the $25/35 USD/month plan, not both.

          • reply
            September 8, 2020 7:04 AM

            The 'all access' includes Xbox Game Pass in the monthly payment. I didn't get it at first either

        • reply
          September 8, 2020 8:15 AM

          It includes Game Pass

      • reply
        September 8, 2020 3:16 PM

        Awesome deal and brilliant move if people go for it. Literally cheaper to get the console this way if you were planning on being subscribed to gamepass ultimate for those 24 months also.

        But it also locks people into the xbox ecosystem for two years which is gonna be important, people who get an xbox with this plan will be less likely to trade the console in for a PS5 at least for a couple years

    • reply
      September 8, 2020 6:44 AM

      One thing not mentioned much is how small the thing is. It's like, smaller than a One X. Pretty cool.

      • reply
        September 8, 2020 6:46 AM

        I don't care if my console is the size of a small bus, if Sony doesn't get the damn thing quiet this time....

        • reply
          September 8, 2020 6:48 AM

          Agreed; small is great but quiet > all else.

          It's just such a better experience especially if you can't always crank the volume.

        • reply
          September 8, 2020 7:13 AM

          [deleted]

    • reply
      September 8, 2020 6:50 AM

      Damn, I’m totally confused by the naming conventions, especially when people start referencing earlier gen in the same thought.

      • reply
        September 8, 2020 6:54 AM

        Xbox Series S = base/lowend next-gen model
        Xbox Series X = loaded/highend next-gen model

        Xbox One X = current-gen highend model
        Xbox One S = current-gen base model
        Xbox One = original model

        • reply
          September 8, 2020 7:16 AM

          So clearly there has to be a mid tier Series E coming at some point right?

        • reply
          September 8, 2020 7:21 AM

          Thanks!

        • reply
          September 8, 2020 7:28 AM

          Keep in mind I think MS stumbled into this.

          Xbox One launched with full blown Kinect integration. It's whole launch was a mess but they backed off many many things one being how integral Kinect would have been but it was still a required piece on the system, and the marketing MS did prior led people to not trust the device.

          Within a few years they had quickly refreshed the Xbox One to have a Kinect-less version, the Xbox One S, and then teased about a more powerful console then (2015), which they named Xbox One X.

          Now obviously, that's a clear distinguishing featuring difference that people get, so it makes sense to stick with it now.

      • reply
        September 8, 2020 7:02 AM

        Way early on, Phil said they were just calling this family "Xbox" so they could add in things like other series (such as now, series S). What I think they're getting people ready for are now more leapfrogging style console improvements and not whole console refreshes from them.

        • reply
          September 8, 2020 7:48 AM

          Because a number scheme like Playstation 2 3 4 5 would have been too confusing

          • reply
            September 8, 2020 7:54 AM

            Sony clearly is set on the idea of a console generation. They have firmly said that and their take on PS5 plants their flag there.

            MS is treating the Xbox more and more like PCs that it is hard to say now where a generation starts and ends and you can always keep improving to match what the market is looking for. They know now that an S and an X model make sense. Maybe in 2 years after judging the Xbox All-Access they realize that some want a less powerful box but with an optical drive, and they'll make a Q version. They're doing services so they know how people play and use their boxens and that will help.

            Or now that NVidia has basically laughed at the face of ninth gen, maybe there will be an even more powerful Y version in 5 years but otherwise compat with all games.

            They have positioned the hardware and marketing in a way they don't have to commit to a new full hardware refresh for at least a good 7 years.

            • reply
              September 8, 2020 8:00 AM

              I'm fully onboard with the Budget/Pro models in the same generation. But the confusion MS has created with generational names Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series is not subtle. It's really terrible and clearly MS was worried to put out a Xbox 2 when PS was a full generational number ahead. This was their attempt to not play leapfrogging number names.

              You can see the same issues with AMD vs Nvidia, and AMD vs Intel in their product name.

              • reply
                September 8, 2020 8:04 AM

                Oh, yeah, that's the big issue.

                Also FWIW, its even worse that this 4th gen xbox series is just "Xbox" , not even "Xbox Series". So you have "Xbox", "Xbox 360", "Xbox One" and "Xbox".

                Now, this is MS, they are not known for smart version naming in the first place.

                They should have been bullish on getting the first gen Xbox "renamed" to something else in everyone's minds. Like Xbox OG, Xbox HUGE, Xbox Classic, or something like that, so that this we're all clear is new. But I will commend that they did shut down Xbox One X production early, and I head Xbox One S was also shuttered (but can't confirm) so that its actually going to be hard to find both Xbox One and XSS/XSX in stores at the same time.

                • reply
                  September 8, 2020 11:12 AM

                  Years would have been perfect. Xbox 2020 lite, xbox 2020 pro

                  • reply
                    September 8, 2020 11:26 AM

                    putting a year in the name of a product that you intend to sell for 3 or 4 years minimum is generally not a good idea. who would want to buy an xbox 2020 in 2024?

                    • reply
                      September 8, 2020 12:19 PM

                      but you can make incremental upgrades in the same generation and keep selling the same thing over and over. PROFIT!

              • reply
                September 8, 2020 8:06 AM

                Agreed, confusing customers is idiotic, it's nice when they keep things very similar. Nvidia is doing the same thing this gen with the 3090.

            • reply
              September 8, 2020 8:06 AM

              Can you play Xbox Series games on an Xbox One at lower settings?

              Because if you can’t then it’s clearly not like a PC but rather a confusingly named new generation of consoles.

              • reply
                September 8, 2020 8:53 AM

                There will be cross-compatibility for a little while. We don’t know when the first cutoff games will be yet. I assume the new Senua game will be Series X/S only but there’s no release window on that

          • reply
            September 8, 2020 7:59 AM

            I would definitely prefer this. I foresee many parents mistakenly ordering the wrong XBox for their kids and thinking they really got a “deal.”

            • reply
              September 8, 2020 8:09 AM

              - Mom can I have Xbox?

              - No, we have Xbox at home.

              Xbox at home: Xbox

              • reply
                September 8, 2020 8:13 AM

                Funny enough this happened back with the Super NES.

                Lots of parents were confused and exasperated that there was a "new" Nintendo when they already had a Nintendo at home. People didn't understand the idea of generational console launches or evolving hardware. They just assumed once you had a Nintendo you had it forever.

                • reply
                  September 8, 2020 8:48 AM

                  True, and Nintendo made the mistake again with the Wii U.

                  • reply
                    September 8, 2020 11:17 AM

                    That was far dumber.

      • reply
        September 8, 2020 8:32 AM

        [deleted]

        • reply
          September 8, 2020 8:50 AM

          The ad hammers on raytracing, SSD, multiple suspend/resume, etc, so yeah, they’re going to make as clear as they can that the Series S is next-gen

        • reply
          September 8, 2020 9:46 AM

          It will have a very similar CPU to what is in the Series X so it should definitely be faster than current gen. The X1X is very limited by its processor. This will be the box for people with just 1080p TVs.

          • reply
            September 8, 2020 10:58 AM

            Or 1440p monitors. It’s small enough to shove next to your PC

        • reply
          September 8, 2020 10:27 AM

          [deleted]

        • reply
          September 8, 2020 10:56 AM

          [deleted]

        • reply
          September 8, 2020 10:59 AM

          Your thinking like a hardcore gamer. Parents and casuals will see the price tag.

          • reply
            September 8, 2020 12:22 PM

            Plus most people don't give a fuck about 4K. $300 is a blockbuster price, that's what they'll see

            • reply
              September 8, 2020 2:37 PM

              I'm half tempted to pick it up over the X and I have a 4k tv

            • reply
              September 8, 2020 2:42 PM

              I strongly, strongly believe that most console purchasers don't care about 4K at all.

              Some do, but it's the same crowd buying $2,500 OLEDs so they're going to get the $500 SKU anyway.

              Most are fine with something that plays all current games, and looks really good on their whatever resolution TV.

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