Microsoft is in the news again and if rumors are true, the company is spending a lot of money on something big Xbox related for the upcoming release of the Xbox Series X and Series S.
VentureBeat reporter Jeff Grubb, who has accurately leaked news in the past, has revealed that, according to sources, the money spent could be a big deal for Xbox fans, speculating that it could be related to a new title coming to Game Pass. Just last week Grubb reported that Microsoft was selling both the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S at a loss according to his sources.
While nothing has been confirmed as to what the money spent is related to, the possibility of bringing more exclusives to the upcoming consoles is a big bet. For all the money spent on Xbox Game Pass and xCloud, Microsoft's biggest weakness is its exclusive games. While it may not necessarily be a first party game, third party timed-exclusives are quite common and is a route both Microsoft and Sony have taken in the past. It's worth noting that Grubb has stated the money spent is not an acquisition of a developer.
Microsoft acquisitions and investments aren't anything new. In 2018 the company announced the purchase of several developers leading up to the release of the Xbox Series X and Series S. The purchases were part of the company's focus on releasing exclusive games to the next gen consoles that would drive the brand forward. Recently, Microsoft was in talks to purchasing the social media platform TikTok, though talks have since fell through with TikTok owner ByteDance rejecting the offer.
Earlier in the week reports indicated that Microsoft was in the process of buying Bungie, with several offers being rejected by the developer. As expected, the reports blew up over social media causing Bungie CEO Pete Parsons to put an end to the buyout rumors on Twitter by explaining that the reports were in fact false.
Meanwhile the Xbox Series S is again in the news but for not the best reasons. While the affordable console will be able to run backwards compatible games much like the Xbox Series X, the Xbox Series S will not be utilizing any upgrades that the Series X will be applying to older games. The Series S will instead run backwards compatible games much in the same way as the Xbox One series of consoles. The Xbox One currently applies both visual and behind the scenes improvements to older games, scaling them to current gen hardware as much as possible, the Series X looks to improve upon that with higher frame rates and 4K enhancements but those features will be Series X exclusive.
While news of the Xbox Series S leaked before Microsoft intended on revealing it, the console itself has been shown to the public unknowingly since June. Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox, took part in the Spanish digital event Gamelab Live 2020 where he was interviewed about the upcoming next gen consoles. Just last week, the official Xbox Twitter revealed that an Xbox Series S was actually in the background of that interview, hidden amongst other consoles and books.
Both the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S launch on November 10.
Source: PureXbox