Microsoft Officially Announces Xbox Series X, Specs and All

Following the unprecedented Xbox Series S announcement from yesterday, which was done in the face of a very accurate leak, Microsoft has given us some insight into the Series S’ more powerful counterpart – the Xbox Series X.

We’ve known about the Series X for a while and it was clear after we heard about the Series S it was set to be more powerful and much bigger, but we couldn’t anticipate it would be the “world’s most powerful console,” as the company so humbly described it. 

In a letter, Head of Xbox, Phil Spencer writes: 

We know you expect the next generation of consoles to set new standards in graphical power and processing speed, converging together in games that look incredible and feel alive. This will be defined by worlds that are visually astounding and immediately immersive, with innovative leaps in CPU, GPU and storage technology to give you frictionless access to new stories and new creators constantly.

The Series X has been designed with power and speed in mind. Offering a completely redesigned and engineered model, the new console makes use of a Next Generation Custom Processor, a patented Variable Rate Shading (VRS), and Hardware-accelerated DirectX Raytracing (“a first for console gaming”). 

It features a new Quick Resume option, which will allow players to “seamlessly” transition between games, picking up exactly where they left off. Thanks to the high processing speed of the console, which utilizes AMD’s latest Zen 2 and RDNA 2 architectures and 12 TFLOPS of GPU (that’s twice as much as the Xbox One X and eight times the amount of the original Xbox One), players should expect to wait less and play more, with games becoming more immersive than ever.

Xbox seems to have pulled out all the stops with immersion. It is 4k and 8k ready, and uses a custom 1TB SSD & CPU and deep software integration so games will be more dynamic and much larger. And, with 120FPS, games should look more realistic than ever.

Among many other new features, including a heat-sink chassis, a vapor chamber, and “whisper-quiet fan,” the console comes with a new and improved Xbox wireless controller. The controller features “refined geometry for enhanced comfort during gameplay,” textured grip, and a hybrid D-pad.

“We’re optimizing latency in the player-to-console pipeline starting with our Xbox Wireless Controller, which leverages our high bandwidth, proprietary wireless communication protocol when connected to the console, Spencer wrote in his letter. “With Dynamic Latency Input (DLI), a new feature which synchronizes input immediately with what is displayed, controls are even more precise and responsive.”

Games developed with the Xbox Series X development kit (and so are optimized for incredible performance on the console) include, Halo Infinite, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and many more. 

The Xbox Series X has an estimated retail price of $499 or will be available with Xbox All Access for $34.99 per month in a 24-month payment scheme. It is available for preorder from September 22 and will be launching on November 10 alongside the Series S.