Xbox Series X: 4 Ups & 4 Downs After 4 Months

Ups

4. Game Pass

It's easy to forget how much Xbox moulded the current gaming industry. Without them there'd be no console push for online multiplayer, as Xbox Live lead the charge. They then put their foot in it at the start of the 8th generation, suggesting an end to physical discs and a push for digital ownership across a variety of access points, but look where we are now.

Game Pass is an all-digital library of must-plays accessible across Xbox, PC and cloud streaming, comprising multiple generations of titles and only seeing bigger deals being made behind the scenes.

Microsoft stumped up $7.5 billion to lock down Bethesda as an Xbox exclusive, and it was only to help promote Game Pass, both now and going forward.

Most notably, another deal was struck with the notoriously money-hungry Square Enix, to bring brand-new cross-platform release Outriders to Xbox on day one, as part of Game Pass. On PlayStation it's still full price, marking a notable shift in "what you're getting" if you stick with team Xbox.

Going forward it'll be interesting to see if Sony bolster PlayStation Now to keep up, throwing money at publishers to further lock down content - like they did with Avengers' Spider-Man DLC.

Is Game Pass the next Xbox Live? Maybe. For now it's simply obscene value for money, and combined with what I'm about to get into, the reason to own a Series X.