In less than a week now, we will get the next generation consoles from Microsoft, the Xbox Series X and the Series S. The lower-end, cheaper entry system, the Series S, has caused some waves for a variety of reasons. Not only is it astonishingly cheap compared to the other systems, some have questioned how effective it’ll be. Some developers think it’ll be fine, while others worry it may cause issues. But maybe the thing that stung the most was that it was recently reported that the system will only have 364 GB of usable storage from its 512 GB SSD. That is not much, especially since the system is digital-only. Microsoft isn’t sweating it, however.
Speaking with EDGE in the latest issue (Christmas 2020, issue 352) Partner Director of Program Management at Team Xbox Jason Ronald said he did not think it would be huge issue. He said that the team looked at the data and how the user base they are targeting, and he thinks with the way most people who the Series S is aimed at utilize their space, it will be fine with the storage available (thanks to Wccftech for transcribing this)
“As we look at player patterns, there’s all different kinds: some people will play ten to fifteen games a month; other players will choose to just play one game, and they play that game religiously. So obviously, in that case, they’re not switching games all the time. Some people might choose smaller games, and want to hop between them. So we definitely looked at the data, and we felt confident in the 512GB of the Xbox Series S.”
While it’s logical and all, 364 is not much, especially as game sizes have continued to balloon as time has gone on. But for the most casual consumer who doesn’t buy a lot of games, or just sticks with one game, it may be more than enough. Phil Spencer has also signaled they see the Xbox Series S be the bigger hit of the two systems launching on November 12th, so only time will tell how much it will really matter in the end.