Fans planning to buy Microsoft's Xbox Series S were shocked at the console's tiny SSD, which only has 346GB of usable storage space. One retailer in Canada has begun shipping out Xbox Series X/S preorders, and some lucky fans are getting them earlier than expected.
The Xbox Series S is being touted by Microsoft as a cheaper way for players to still get a next-gen experience, albeit with less powerful hardware than the Xbox Series X in a very much so get-what-you-pay-for situation. Microsoft admits that games released on the Xbox Series S will not have all the bells and whistles that their Series X counterparts would, such as 4K textures and ray tracing. For many pre-order holders and prospective buyers, though, this is an acceptable trade-off.
After Redditor pead20 was fortunate enough to get their Xbox Series S early and shared the new console online, this stance may be shifting for some. spead20 took to the dedicated Xbox Series X/S subreddit to show off their new next-gen console and answered a few users' burning questions, most of which were about pre-order delivery dates. After being asked about the console's available storage space, the Redditor replied that its SSD's actual usable space is "364GB for games and apps." To put into perspective, another Redditor, TheFearlessWarrior, shared, "Fun fact: That’s 2GB more than OG Xbox One."
Received it 1 week early !! From the source (Canada) feeling really lucky ! Hope all of you receive it soon! from XboxSeriesX
This is the second such case of players being shocked by how much usable space the next-gen consoles will actually have. Previously, the PlayStation 5's SSD was revealed to be noticeably smaller than the Xbox Series X's, and the revelation was met with a lot of the same criticisms. PlayStation is attempting to get in front of any future issues by releasing expandable SSDs and supporting some third-party SSDs. Microsoft is taking the a somewhat similar approach with the Xbox Series X/S, as players currently have the option to buy expandable SSDs directly from Microsoft, but that first-party option is proprietary (meaning no third-party SSDs will be supported) and will run players a whopping $220 USD.
It's no secret that Microsoft is counting on the Xbox Series S and its xCloud service to carry each other. However, the small storage space is still alarming players. While Microsoft might be able to ensure first-party titles take proper steps to ensure a smaller file size for the Series S, the same can not be said for third-party developers. For example, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War currently has a 50GB install size, but this is only for multiplayer and also does not include additional future updates. Next-gen games are going to get progressively bigger as developers add more features and textures to their projects and continue to eschew compression, but it doesn't seem the next gen of consoles will be up to the task at launch. Microsoft will almost certainly release some sort of upgraded Xbox Series S a few years into the console's life cycle, just as it's done this console generation, but the question is if players will want to fork over more than half the console's asking price for an SSD expansion during that long wait.
Source: spead20, TheFearlessWarrior