There have been so many leaks regarding the Xbox Series S that it’s basically no longer a question of if Microsoft’s alleged budget-friendly next-gen console exists, but rather when it might finally be revealed. That remains a mystery for the time being, but new evidence has emerged suggesting it won’t be much longer until the company is ready to acknowledge its existence.
For years now, it’s been rumored that the next generation of Xbox would continue the trend set by the Xbox One X and Xbox One S, where the pricier high-end console is accompanied by one with lower specs and a more modest cost. Rumors of this budget console, allegedly codenamed “Lockhart,” have only become more prevalent following the Xbox Series X’s reveal last year. Combined with the repeated instances lately of Microsoft products mentioning the console, it’s easy to call the Xbox Series S Microsoft’s worst-kept next-gen secret.
In a slight change of pace, the newest evidence of the Series S’ existence comes not from Microsoft, but from the ESRB. As first spotted by Andrew Marmo on Twitter, the ratings board has changed up its ratings for next-gen games like Assassins’ Creed Valhalla and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. Before, they labeled “Xbox Series X” as the next-gen Microsoft platform for these games, but now the games are merely described as coming to “Xbox Series.”
Marmo also noticed that some retailers have followed suit and begun listing next-gen Xbox games under the Xbox Series moniker, which led him to guess that the Xbox Series S could be announced in just a few weeks. Meanwhile, it’s been discovered that the European ratings board, PEGI, has also done something similar to the ESRB, with its listings now using “Xbox (2020)” in place of “Xbox Series X.”
This could mean a lot of things ultimately, but the biggest implication is what many have suspected for a while now: that “Xbox Series” isn’t simply the name of a new console. Rather, it’s a catch-all term used to describe an entire slate of new systems. The name itself suggests that the Xbox Series X is just the headliner in Microsoft’s larger next-gen ecosystem, leaving room for other ways for users to access it, like the budget-friendly Series S, and maybe even upgraded models a few years from now.
Obviously, this is still just speculation until Microsoft officially announces something, but by this point, it’s doubtful that the XSX will be the only Xbox console launching in the near future.
The Xbox Series S is allegedly in development. The Xbox Series X, meanwhile, will launch in November.