The Xbox Series X is Microsoft's gen-9 "premium" console, and has been available to purchase since November 10, 2020. It was designed to take advantage of 4K TVs, complete with HDR support, VRR capabilities, with 60 FPS as a primary frame rate target.
At launch, Microsoft touted things like ray-traced lighting as being a major feature, but most developers haven't opted to use performance-costly technology heavily. The Xbox Series X and its PS5 counterpart have been very quickly outpaced by gaming PCs in the graphics department, although it remains an incredibly capable console with good performance-to-price ratios — despite President Trump's tariff-induced price hikes.
Powered by a custom AMD 8-core Zen 2 APU, complete with 52 CUs and RDNA 2 graphics at 12 teraflops, the 16GB RAM Xbox Series X has delivered games all the way up to 120 FPS in some circumstances, including popular titles like Call of Duty and Overwatch 2. Xbox differentiated itself from competitors by offering Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers day one access to all Xbox-owned games, alongside many heavy-hitting third-party titles.
The Xbox Series X has notoriously struggled to keep up with the PS5 in sales, though, owing to weak distribution, a lack of highly desirable exclusive games, and Microsoft's Xbox One hangover. The next Xbox looks set to include full Windows at its core, opening up the ecosystem to third-party stores like Steam, potentially destroying the need for "exclusive" games. It'll be interesting to see if Microsoft's Xbox platform can stick the landing, as scrutiny over its hardware plans remains endless.
Essential Xbox Series X reading
Latest about Xbox Series X
Gaming Players on Reddit have discovered that all Xbox Ally handheld consoles have received beta drivers for AMD's FSR 4.1 upscaling technology, as our sources told us earlier this week.
Xbox I believe this is the first time Microsoft has done this, but yeah, Xbox has usurped your entire dashboard for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 this year.
Xbox Sources tell us that Xbox Ally will see FSR 4.1 as soon as this week, with the first Xbox Series X|S games gaining the capabilities in the holiday season and before year's end.
Xbox Forza Horizon fans in Japan have rallied against Playground Games recently for unclear rules on anime-styled user-made liveries and skins.
Xbox In a video address, AMD revealed FSR 4.1 support is coming "soon" to Xbox consoles, and this week to Xbox Ally.
Xbox The console stock situation is so dire now that Microsoft is targeting lapsed users with second, dormant Xbox consoles to recommend trading-in. The RAM crisis continues.
Xbox As AI mods and reverse-engineered games take over the internet, Microsoft is founding a team to explore potential applications for Xbox and gaming in general.
GAMING PS5 emulation has arrived on Xbox Series X, with Astro Bot already running through Developer Mode.
