Forget Nintendo Switch — Xbox Series S could be the perfect kids console
Forget Nintendo Switch — Xbox Series S could exist the perfect kids console
The Xbox Series S is official: a $299 console with 1440p resolution, a 512 GB SSD and the power to run any Xbox Series 10 game. This tiny gaming box isn't as powerful equally the $499 Xbox Series X, but it could appeal to casual gamers, lapsed gamers — and, if Microsoft plays its cards right, young gamers.
While gaming today arguably appeals more to teenagers and adults, mod console gaming very much started out as a kids' hobby. And yet today, only Nintendo puts children front and center, meaning that the only 2 child-centric consoles on the market place are the Switch and the Switch Lite. This doesn't take to be the case. The Xbox Series S could be only the console to introduce budding gamers into the hobby, thanks to both its price and its symbiotic relationship with the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
- Xbox Series S: Release date, price, specs and preorders
- Xbox Serial X vs Xbox Series S: What's different?
- Plus: Nvidia RTX 3080 crushes RTX 2080 in leaked benchmarks
Consoles for kids
It'due south fair to say that gamers today, demographically speaking, are older than they were back in the '80s and '90s. Await at the games that Sony and Microsoft accept used to entice potential buyers for the PS5 and Xbox Serial X: Horizon Forbidden Due west, Halo Infinite, Spider-Human being: Miles Morales, Senua'south Saga: Hellblade 2 and so forth. In that location'due south not much hither for anyone under the age of thirteen. Even more kid-friendly games, such as Ratchet & Clank: Rift Autonomously tend to appeal to tweens rather than young children.
If PlayStation and Xbox court older audiences, other companies by and large have to option upwardly the slack to concenter younger gamers. Nintendo is still the gilded standard, with child-friendly series like Super Mario and Kirby. But otherwise, Android and iOS seem to be the only platforms with immature children in mind, drip-feeding them cheap, colorful shovelware, oft with a hefty side of overpriced microtransactions.
In other words, there is definitely more than room in the console marketplace for kids. And Microsoft has a secret weapon that Nintendo doesn't: the Xbox Game Pass subscription.
Consider the following scenario: A parent wants to buy a game console for their child. Come Holiday 2020, they'll take a pick among the PS5, the Xbox Serial X, the Xbox Series S, the Nintendo Switch and the Nintendo Switch Light.
The PS5 and Xbox Serial 10 are out of the running about immediately, as they'll likely cost $500 apiece. That's perhaps non an unreasonable price for an unabridged family entertainment system, simply information technology's a flake much for a single present for a unmarried kid.
At $200, the Switch Lite is the almost affordable option — and, indeed, information technology'south a very popular starter console for kids, especially since they don't need to share the Television set with mom and dad to use it. Plenty of parents will go this road, perhaps with copies of Super Mario Odyssey and Animal Crossing: New Horizons in hand. Just there's still something engrossing well-nigh playing a game on a big Goggle box screen, and then ownership a Switch Low-cal is inappreciably a foregone decision.
Xbox Serial S vs. Nintendo Switch
That leaves the regular Switch and the Xbox Serial X at $300 apiece. The Switch is an impressive piece of hardware, if simply because it can movement seamlessly from a handheld to a docked mode. Asking a child to requite up the living room Tv is easy, after all, provided they can have their games with them. And with honey series similar Mario and Zelda, it'southward hard to imagine a young child wanting more out of a gaming organization.
And yet, the Xbox Series S has a lot going for it that the Switch doesn't. First off, it'due south a much more than powerful system, featuring upward to 1440p resolution and the ability to play games at 120 frames per second. This probably isn't something that would interest a very immature child, merely any financially savvy parent knows that the Switch is a few years old, whereas the Xbox Series S is brand new. As such, the Series Southward probably has more than years ahead of it, specially in its ability to run new games. Microsoft's new console is arguably a better investment.
The bigger selling point, nonetheless, is that Xbox Series Due south is, perhaps more than than anything else, a vessel for Xbox Game Pass. For those who don't know, the Xbox Game Laissez passer is a subscription service that costs between $5 and $xv per calendar month, and gives players access to a library of more than 100 downloadable games. The Xbox Series S is nigh guaranteed to come with at least a month-long subscription to Xbox Game Laissez passer.
As such, your $300 essentially gets you i of the most powerful consoles on the market, as well as a complete game library to become with information technology. That'due south a far cry from the $420 it would toll to buy a Switch and 2 games — or fifty-fifty the $320 it would cost to buy a Switch Lite and ii games. Amend yet, Windows Primal reports that the Series S can be financed for $25 per month as part of the Xbox All Access plan, which would brand it one of the most affordable panel options out there.
While yous can't break down game selection into pure math (Super Mario Odyssey is arguably "worth" more than than whatever four games on the Xbox Game Pass, depending on your child'southward tastes), it'due south still a good place to showtime. Suppose you need iii games to get the most out of a organization — Mario, Zelda, and Animal Crossing, for example. That would bring the total purchase cost of a Switch up to $480, earlier tax. That extra $180 would as well purchase you 12 months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Even bold your child plays only one new game per month, the subscription is however a lot more toll-constructive than buying games à la menu.
Thanks to the xCloud functionality in Xbox Game Laissez passer Ultimate, Xbox Series Southward games aren't even necessarily tied to a Goggle box. You can download most of them on a gaming PC, or stream many of them to any modern Android device. It's admittedly not quite as good as having a defended console that a child can just selection up and carry anywhere, but Projection xCloud also utilizes engineering science that you lot probably already own.
Xbox Serial S outlook
In short, $300 buys a three-year-old Nintendo Switch without whatsoever games — or it buys a brand-new console with a full library built-in. While there are still plenty of reasons to get a Switch instead, Microsoft could exist missing a big opportunity if it doesn't pitch the Xbox Serial S every bit a great option for children.
As of at present, the merely real caveat is that the "family unit friendly" selections on the Xbox Game Pass are, at present, and so-so. The website lists 65 games, and it's sort of a grab-purse. Games like Banjo-Kazooie are quite quondam. Games like Forza Horizon four don't have any objectionable content, but are more than geared toward teens and adults. Games like Disneyland Adventures just aren't that adept. In fact, a lot of the great games listed are indie fare: Totally Reliable Delivery Service, Untitled Goose Game, Golf With Your Friends and so along. In terms of beginning-rate Xbox fare for kids, at that place's Zoo Tycoon, the ii Ori games and not much else.
And so again, Microsoft has a few more months to add more family-friendly titles to the roster. And, failing that, Fortnite is always gratis to play.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/opinion/xbox-series-s-console-kids
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