Xbox Series X release date: Microsoft finally gives rough indication of when next-generation console will arrive – but no word on price
The Xbox Series X will arrive in November, Microsoft has said.
The company had previously only revealed that the next-generation console would arrive around "Holiday 2020", suggesting that it could have come as soon as October or deep into December.
Microsoft gave no indication of the price of the new console, or any more specific information about when it will be released.
But The Verge reported that it had been told that controllers rumoured to be used with the new console included a note that they should not be publicly displayed until 6 November. If that is true, it is not clear whether that date refers to when the console will be released, or just when it is fully launched.
The PlayStation 5 – which Sony has also announced with the same "Holiday 2020" release date – is yet to receive any information or any more specific release schedule.
The rough release date was announced at the same time Microsoft said that one of the expected launch titles – Halo Infinite – would be pushed back into 2021. "We will need some more time to finish the critical work necessary to launch," the company said in a blog post.
Halo Infinite had been probably the most hyped of the company's launch titles, appearing in a variety of different launch events for the console. But it had taken the decision to delay it into next year so that it could "deliver the most ambitious Halo game ever for our fans, while also balancing the team’s well-being", a representative wrote.
It stressed however that there will be "more than 50 new games planned for this year across generations and optimised for Xbox Series X". It noted also that customers will be able to play games they have bought for the existing generaiton of consoles on the Xbox Series X, as part of a feature called "Smart Delivery" that is intended to mean players only buy any given game once.
It also pointed to the fact that games from the older generations will work with the new console as part of a commitment to backwards compatibility. Many of those have been "newly optimised" to take advantage of the processing power on the Xbox Series X, it said.
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