Even though it’s now over 3 years old, the Xbox Series S still offers the best bang per buck in gaming. The low price point of his console, in combination with Xbox Game Pass, simply offers the complete package and unbeatable value for money.
Despite this, I still see a lot of people unfairly criticising this console, so in this article I’m going to give you a few key reasons as why the Xbox Series S is still worth it in 2024.
Games
Let’s kick off with the most important aspect — games. With all the studios that Microsoft now own, the Xbox has no games meme is dead and buried.
From racing games to RPGs and shooters, Xbox now has a library of game titles to be proud of. I’ve had a great time with Starfield, but my favourite Xbox game has got to be Forza Horizon 5, the Hot Wheels expansion for this is incredible.
What’s more, with an Xbox Game Pass subscription, you have access to literally hundreds of games to download and enjoy. These include recent triple A exclusive games like Starfield and Forza Motorsport, alongside a whole host of other first and third party titles.
Game Pass Ultimate
Game Pass Ultimate is the full package, you get all new exclusive Xbox games on release at no extra cost, a huge library of games to choose from, multiplayer support, EA Play, and it even offers cloud gaming too.
I also love the fact that Game Pass helps me discover games that I likely wouldn’t have played otherwise, just in the last year there’s been some fantastic 3rd party and indie games included, many of which dropped on the day of release.
Game Pass Ultimate is currently 12.99 a month in the UK or 16.99 in the US, but you can get it cheaper than that if you shop around for codes at places like CDKeys.
The crazy thing about Game Pass is that it’s only going to get better, now the Activision Blizzard deal has completed we’ve just seen Diablo 4 added to the service, and later this year we should be seeing other huge franchises like Call of Duty coming onboard too.
All things considered there’s never been a better time to get onboard with Xbox Game Pass, the value offered is incredible, it really is the perfect service for the all-digital Xbox Series S.
Performance
In terms of performance I’ve found the Series S to be more than good enough, particularly when you consider the low price of this console. I know some folk like to criticise this console and say it isn’t powerful enough, but that hasn’t been the case in my experience.
Games like Starfield and Forza really show what this console is capable of when developers dedicate enough time to it. Sure these games might not hit native 4k resolution, but that really doesn’t matter when the upscaling is so good when output on a 4K TV.
White or Carbon Black?
We also now have two Xbox Series S consoles to choose from; the original white model with a 512GB SSD, or the new Carbon Black Edition that ships with 1TB of storage.
In terms of design they have an identical form factor, I do love the clean white look of the OG Series S, but the new model definitely looks the part in carbon black.
It has more of a stealthy feel alongside the same small form factor, but both models will blend in well with all kinds of gaming setup. Of course the most important difference between the two model is the SSD size.
512GB or 1TB?
The 512GB SSD on the white console really does limit how many games you can have installed at the same time. The difference the 1TB drive makes is huge. With the 512GB drive on the original console, the actual useable storage of the SSD was less than 400GB, so you could only fit a few AAA game titles on there at a time.
With a 1TB drive it’s a different ballgame. You have 800GB of usable storage which simply makes life much easier.
Game sizes are getting so large that having a decent size SSD is near essential. Titles like Starfield and Call of Duty are over 100GB each. Forza Horizon 5 with both expansions installed weighs in at a crazy 160GB.
So if you can, it really is worth paying a little more to get the 1TB Series S.
Still Worth It?
And so to conclude it’s still easy to recommend the Xbox Series S in 2024. Alongside Xbox Game Pass it offers a complete gaming package at an unbeatable price point.
The fact that we now have two Series S models means you can choose an option that fits your budget, the new carbon black model with 1TB SSD is a great choice if you want to have a larger number of games installed on your machine.
However if you’re on a tighter budget, then the original white model with the smaller SSD is still a solid buy, it just means you need to manage your SSD storage space a little more, and only play a few games at a time.
In my opinion, you can’t really go wrong with either, both models make perfect game pass machines and offer insane value for money.
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