We knew it was in development, we even got to see it during our visit to the Microsoft campus back in March – but today, Xbox Series S launches and it’s a fascinating product. Targeting an aggressive $299 (£249 in the UK) price-point, the junior next-generation Xbox allows users access to a much cheaper console that still plays the same games as the premium/performance Series X that’s $200/£200 more expensive. The story behind the machine is remarkable and illuminates the challenges the platform holders will have in reducing costs over time, as well as suggesting a difficult time ahead in delivering a generational leap in console performance beyond Series X and PS5. I spoke to Xbox system architect Andrew Goossen about Series S in person back in March and in a follow-up call several months later after the system was revealed.
The bulk of this Xbox Series S discussion actually began after wrapping up an interview mostly centred on Series X. We’d seen Series S in the flesh the day before, but it wasn’t clear how much Microsoft wanted to talk about its entry-level machine – we hadn’t even got to see it in action. “If you don’t mind, there’s another thing that I did want to mention as well,” began Andrew Goossen, and that’s the beginning of what turned out to be a truly remarkable discussion, giving a hitherto untold story about the challenges in delivering new console hardware.
“Series S has been very impactful for us. As we design our new consoles for the new generation, we’re very much looking forward through the generation to be thinking ahead – like, how does this work? – and that’s why we got to two consoles at the same time,” Goossen continued. “We are facing a big change in how consoles are designed. I believe when we first started building the original Xbox 360 – the smallest one without the HDD – that cost us about $460. By the end of the generation it cost us around $120 – and that cost reduction path was driven principally by silicon cost reduction.”
To put that into perspective, Xbox 360 launched with individual CPU and GPUs, both fabricated at 90nm. By the generation’s end, those two components had been combined into a single chip, delivering a significant cost reduction in its own right, and they were also delivered using a much smaller process (possibly as low as 32nm on the final model). Between launch and the end of the 360’s lifecycle, the machine had actually transitioned through several fabrication nodes. Its successor – Xbox One – saw its processor revised just once, down from 28nm to 16nm FinFET. Cost reduction opportunities were thin on the ground for this generation and will be even more constricted going forward.