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Xbox Series X: all the news about Microsoft’s next-gen game console

We’ve known about Microsoft’s next-gen Xbox for quite some time now. The company unveiled its official codename, Scarlett, back at E3 2019, alongside some key specs. And Xbox chief Phil Spencer has been much more forthright about this upcoming console generation, to promote a spirit of transparency with fans to counter Sony’s more tight-lipped approach with the PlayStation 5.

But at the Game Awards in December, Microsoft did something completely unexpected: it showed off its new console, nearly a year before its planned launch and many months before next year’s E3, when we’ll presumably get to see it for the first time in person.

The Xbox Series X, as it’s called, is the next-gen Microsoft console, and it’s already inspiring spirited debates about how much of a console-PC hybrid is and just how big of a performance leap it’ll provide, as well as some hilarious memes about its blocky design. Below, you can find all the news about the Xbox Series X as we cover Microsoft’s new console ahead of its scheduled launch in late 2020.

  • Sep 21, 2020

    Tom Warren and Cameron Faulkner

    Xbox Series X and S preorders have kicked off around the world

    Microsoft’s white Xbox Series S sits alongside a bigger black Xbox Series X on a wooden coffee table in a living room
    Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge

    Microsoft’s Xbox Series X and Series S consoles will be available for preorder around the world on September 22nd — and depending on where you live, that’s happening very soon. If you’re reading this in New Zealand, you’ll be able to place an order in just under two hours, with the wait being just a bit longer for those in Australia. By the time those on the US East Coast wake up, gamers in the UK and Europe will have already put money down on a new console. Those preorders start at 8AM BST (3AM ET) and 9AM, respectively.

    Since we originally wrote this post, Microsoft expanded the list to include those details for many other countries as well.

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  • Sean Hollister

    Aug 12, 2020

    Sean Hollister

    When I don’t buy the new Xbox, Microsoft will laugh all the way to the bank

    Microsoft has thoroughly convinced me: I don’t need to buy an Xbox Series X. The games don’t look “next-gen” enough. There aren’t enough titles I actually want to play. Yesterday, the company announced its flagship game, Halo Infinite, won’t even arrive until 2021. Besides, almost all of Microsoft’s key games are also coming to Windows PCs, and some may even come to the PS5 as well. And while I have a sneaking suspicion that Microsoft is breaking a big promise by not bringing some Xbox Series X games to the Xbox One, another possibility is many of the biggest reasons to buy a new Xbox won’t be available until long after its November launch.

    But intriguingly, I don’t think Microsoft will mind me skipping the Xbox this gen. The company will be too busy laughing all the way to the bank. 

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  • Tom Warren

    Dec 16, 2019

    Tom Warren

    Microsoft has a big year of hardware for 2020

    Microsoft’s surprise unveiling of its next Xbox Series X console last week underscores the company’s big hardware ambitions for 2020 and beyond. The Xbox Series X will debut during holiday 2020 alongside Microsoft’s already-announced Surface Duo and Surface Neo dual-screen devices and potentially even more holiday hardware.

    Bizarrely, we’re heading into the new year already knowing most of Microsoft’s big hardware releases, but there’s bound to be even more. The Surface Book and Surface Go line of devices are both overdue refreshes, and there are rumors of Surface webcams and a modular Surface Studio. Here’s what to expect from Microsoft’s 2020 hardware.

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  • Dieter Bohn

    Dec 13, 2019

    Dieter Bohn

    The Xbox One Series X: bad name, good design

    Microsoft dropped a surprise last night — we got our first look at the upcoming Xbox and learned its name: Microsoft’s next Xbox is Xbox Series X, coming holiday 2020. I’m not sold on the name, but I think I am sold on the shape: instead of a VCR-like traditional console, it’s a square tower. You can use the new Xbox Series X horizontally, thankfully, so there is a better chance you’ll be able to fit it inside whatever home entertainment console you have.

    I like this shape because it has more class than the last few Xboxes. The original Xbox One was a design disaster, and the subsequent iterations got better but still felt off. This design feels more honest to what it really is. It looks like a PC, basically.

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  • Sam Byford

    Dec 13, 2019

    Sam Byford

    The Xbox Series X is basically a PC

    For a long time now, Microsoft has been going out of its way to downplay the “box” part of “Xbox.” Whether it’s pledging to bring all of its first-party titles to PC, releasing some of them to platforms like Steam and the Nintendo Switch, launching its Game Pass service for Windows, or pushing xCloud streaming, the message has been clear: you don’t have to buy an Xbox to play Xbox games.

    “The business isn’t how many consoles you sell,” Xbox chief Phil Spencer told The Verge earlier this year.

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  • Chaim Gartenberg

    Dec 13, 2019

    Chaim Gartenberg

    Yes, you can use the new Xbox Series X horizontally

    The Xbox Series X is Microsoft’s newly revealed next-gen console with a unique, PC-inspired vertical design that has already had many questioning how on earth they’re going to fit it into their TV stand. But don’t worry: according to Xbox head Phil Spencer, Microsoft “designed Xbox Series X to support both vertical and horizontal orientation.”

    Based on the orientation of the Xbox button on the Xbox Series X, it’s clear that Microsoft intends for the console to be stood up vertically, much in the same way that the current Xbox One consoles were designed to lay flat.

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  • Tom Warren

    Dec 13, 2019

    Tom Warren

    Microsoft’s next Xbox is Xbox Series X, coming holiday 2020

    Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox is officially called Xbox Series X. Microsoft revealed the name and console design on stage at the Game Awards today. The console itself looks far more like a PC than we’ve seen from previous Xbox consoles, and Microsoft’s trailer provides a brief glimpse at the new design.

    The console itself is designed to be used in both vertical and horizontal orientations, and Microsoft’s Xbox chief, Phil Spencer, promises that it will “deliver four times the processing power of Xbox One X in the most quiet and efficient way.”

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  • Tom Warren

    Dec 4, 2019

    Tom Warren

    Microsoft planning second next-gen Xbox that’s cheaper and less powerful

    Photo by James Bareham / The Verge

    Microsoft is currently planning to launch two next-generation Xbox consoles for holiday 2020. Sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans tell The Verge that Microsoft is planning a second, cheaper and less powerful Xbox console, codenamed “Lockhart.” While Microsoft has revealed its Xbox Project Scarlett high-end plans, the company did not mention its two-console strategy at E3 earlier this year. Windows Central originally reported Lockhart’s existence nearly a year ago, and Kotaku now reports it’s part of Microsoft’s next-gen plans.

    Microsoft is essentially launching two next-gen consoles that will serve as successors to the Xbox One S and Xbox One X. Lockhart will debut without a disc drive, much like the Xbox One All-Digital Edition, and Microsoft is tweaking the console’s hardware so it’s less powerful than the main Project Scarlett console, codenamed “Anaconda.”

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  • Tom Warren

    Nov 14, 2019

    Tom Warren

    Xbox chief says Project Scarlett ‘will not be out of position on power or price’

    Phil Spencer Microsoft Xbox stock

    Microsoft isn’t going to repeat its mistakes from the Xbox One with its next-generation Xbox console. “I would say a learning from the Xbox One generation is we will not be out of position on power or price,” says Phil Spencer, Microsoft’s Xbox and gaming chief, in an interview with The Verge. “If you remember the beginning of this generation we were a hundred dollars more expensive and yes, we were less powerful. And we started Project Scarlett with this leadership team in place with a goal of having market success.”

    That market success will be key for Xbox, after years of falling behind PlayStation sales and questions over its games lineup. Either way, Spencer thinks there are plenty of generations of Xbox ahead. “We had the discussion years ago ‘do we want to go do another generation?’ Yes, and do we think there will be multiple generations ahead of us? I actually think there probably is,” says Spencer. “So we’re going all in. We’re all-in on Project Scarlett and I want to compete, and I want to compete in the right ways which is why we’re focused on cross-play and backward compatibility.”

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  • Chaim Gartenberg

    Oct 8, 2019

    Chaim Gartenberg

    What should Microsoft call the next Xbox?

    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    The next phase of the unending console wars is starting to heat up, with Sony announcing that the successor to the PlayStation 4 will, predictably, be called the PlayStation 5.

    But the news got us wondering: what will Microsoft call its next-generation Xbox console, which is currently using codename “Project Scarlett”? Unlike Sony, which tends to stick to strictly utilitarian names for its consoles — PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, with a few self-explanatory “Slim” or “Pro” variants thrown in — Microsoft has tended toward what we’ll call... creative branding.

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  • Tom Warren

    Jun 21, 2019

    Tom Warren

    Microsoft is only launching one next-generation Xbox, not two

    The Xbox logo
    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    Microsoft revealed its next-generation Xbox Project Scarlett console on stage at E3 earlier this month, but many had been expecting two consoles to be unveiled. Rumors previously suggested that Microsoft was working on a pair of new devices: one codenamed Anaconda that would be high-end, and another codenamed Lockhart that would be the more affordable option. Thurrott.com reports that Microsoft is now focused solely on a high-end Xbox console, under the broader Project Scarlett effort.

    While Xbox chief Phil Spencer did reveal the company was “deep into architecting the next Xbox consoles,” at E3 last year, plans have clearly changed as only Project Scarlett was mentioned as a single console this year. Thurrott previously reported that Scarlett would ship with both a high-end console, and a “cloud console” with limited amounts of local compute “for specific tasks like controller input, image processing, and importantly, collision detection.” Windows Central also previously claimed that a cheaper Xbox One S-style console, codenamed Lockhart, would appear in holiday 2020 (the original article has since been replaced with an updated version).

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  • Chris Welch

    Jun 10, 2019

    Chris Welch

    Microsoft’s Project Scarlett Xbox console will have an optical drive

    Photo by Nick Statt

    In case you took the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition as a hint that Microsoft might omit an optical drive from its next-generation console due in 2020, fear not: Project Scarlett will indeed have one and support physical media. Confirmation comes on two fronts: GameIndustry.biz interviewed Xbox boss Phil Spencer, and Eurogamer got the same word from Matt Booty, the head of Microsoft Game Studios.

    “We know, because we see it, that more and more players are buying digital. We think the experience in certain instances, specifically if I am away from my console and everything is on my hard-drive with the entitlements are all there, there are some scenarios that are easy,” Spencer said.

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  • Tom Warren

    Jun 9, 2019

    Tom Warren

    Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox: 8K graphics, SSD storage, and ray tracing for 2020

    Microsoft is revealing the first details about its next-generation Xbox hardware today. Rumors suggested Microsoft would launch two new Xbox consoles in 2020, with one designed to be the equivalent of the current Xbox One X and the other, the Xbox One S. We’re now starting to get more information on the next high-end Xbox console, codenamed “Project Scarlett.”

    Microsoft is including a custom-designed CPU based on AMD’s Zen 2 and Radeon RDNA architecture, and it’s promising this new console will be four times more powerful than the Xbox One X. Microsoft is also using fast GDDR6 RAM, that it claims will “usher in resolution and framerates we’ve never seen before.”

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  • Tom Warren

    Jun 8, 2019

    Tom Warren

    Microsoft hints at next-generation Xbox ‘Scarlet’ in E3 teasers

    The Xbox logo
    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    Microsoft is less than 24 hours away from unveiling its next-generation Xbox plans at E3, and the company has been hiding secret messages in its own teasers. Twitter users have noticed that each of Microsoft’s daily E3 countdown videos has a secret code hidden in the left-hand side of the video. The first, from a couple of days ago, has R 255, followed by G 36 in the second, and B 0 in the latest today. Together that forms the code RGB (255,36,0), the RGB color code for Scarlet.

    Rumors have suggested that Microsoft is creating two new consoles under a general “Scarlett” codename, with a high-end console codenamed Anaconda and an Xbox One S equivalent codenamed Lockhart. It appears Microsoft is ready to talk about its Scarlett plans, as the company is teasing it freely in its E3 videos. Microsoft even confirmed the teaser by providing a free month of Xbox Game Pass to the Twitter user who discovered the Easter egg.

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  • Tom Warren

    Dec 18, 2018

    Tom Warren

    Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox is codenamed Anaconda

    Xbox One Elite Console stock
    Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge

    Microsoft is continuing its reptile-themed codenames for its Xbox consoles. The original Xbox One was codenamed Durango and the Xbox One X devkit used the Chuckwalla codename ahead of the arachnid-themed Project Scorpio. Now it appears the next-generation Xbox, expected to arrive in 2020, is codenamed Anaconda. Windows Central first reported new codenames for Xbox over the weekend, and it reveals Microsoft is preparing to ship two new consoles as part of its overall “Scarlett” next-generation Xbox plans.

    Codename Anaconda will be the equivalent of the current Xbox One X, with improved hardware and processors / graphics from AMD. Anaconda may also include SSD storage to reduce game load times. Microsoft is also reportedly preparing a second console, codenamed Lockhart, that will act as the more affordable Xbox (think Xbox One S). Naturally, both of these consoles will fully support existing backward compatible Xbox and Xbox 360 games, and of course Xbox One titles.

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  • Tom Warren

    Jun 12, 2018

    Tom Warren

    Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox reportedly arriving in 2020

    Microsoft is reportedly planning to launch its next-generation Xbox console in 2020. While Xbox chief Phil Spencer acknowledged this week that the software giant is “deep into architecturing the next Xbox consoles,” Brad Sams at Thurrott.com reports that the next-gen Xbox will arrive in 2020. Microsoft is reportedly working on a “family of devices” under the Scarlett codename, which would also align closely to Spencer’s mention of Xbox “consoles” and not a single console.

    It’s not clear what the set of devices could be, but it’s possible Microsoft is reconsidering streaming devices given its focus on a new game streaming service. Sams previously reported that Microsoft would launch “Xbox TV” devices at E3 2016, but the Chromecast-like devices never appeared. Microsoft canceled the devices, codenamed Project Hobart, and they were originally supposed to be $99 streaming sticks to access Xbox One games from a second TV in a house.

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