Today Microsoft finally revealed the launch date and price for both their next-gen Xbox Series X and Series S. But, what if you don’t want to pay $500 or $300 off the bat? What if you’d rather treat your console like a phone: pay it off over time with a bundled service? Xbox All Access will let you do just that, but without all the shaddy crap that comes from a cell contract. Microsoft provided more details on the service today in tandem with their other news, so how does it work?
The Xbox Series X and Series X can be pre-ordered via Xbox All Access from participating retailers.
Microsoft has been quietly testing their Xbox All Access program with the Xbox One S, and it appears they are ready to commit to it wholesale with the launch of the Xbox Series X and Series S November 10th. Starting September 22nd eager fans can pre-order either console, and they can do so via Xbox All Access. Anyone using the service currently with the One S can upgrade to a Series X/S too after they’ve been in the program for 18 months.
Xbox All Access is a 24 month “subscription” that comes with both Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and the console of your choice, with no upfront cost (assuming you qualify for a 0% APR loan from Citizens One Line of Credit first; gotta read that fine print). You won’t start paying for the service until the consoles launch, so you can safely see if you qualify, grab one, and sleep on it a bit knowing you have a shiny new Xbox Series X/S lined up if you choose to go through with it.
The Xbox Series X will cost $35 a month over 24 months, and the Series S will be ten dollars cheaper at $25 a month. Doing some napkin math that means the consoles themselves are actually cheaper in the long run via Xbox All Access after you subtract Game Pass Ultimate’s $15 fee from the total. The Series X would cost you $480, and the Series S $240. This is assuming there are no hidden fees, but if true it indicates Microsoft is willing to suffer minor losses with Xbox All Access, likely because it gets people into their ecosystem and nets them 24 months of guaranteed Game Pass Ultimate money.
Still, that’s not a bad deal whatsoever. You get Xbox Live, Game Pass on both your PC and Xbox (with Day-1 first-party launch titles), X-Cloud, and EA Play along with your new console. That’s a compelling value proposition, and I’m curious to see if Sony will offer up anything similar. I’d argue they won’t, because the PlayStation 5 looks to be as traditional a console launch as you can get (and that’s not a bad thing). Nonetheless, we live in interesting times.
https://youtu.be/KvnYVcp1oqk
