Can I use my old controllers and accessories with Xbox Series X and S?

Yes, almost all Xbox One controllers and accessories will be compatible with the Xbox Series X and S. Bear in mind that the new Xbox Series X and S controller has a USB-C connection rather than micro-USB, so you’ll need to use a different charging cable for each of them where applicable. Also remember that you won’t be able to make use of the new Xbox Share button when using an Xbox One pad, so you’ll have to use the alternate inputs for capturing screenshots and clips.

Battery packs that were designed for Xbox One controllers, such as the Xbox Play & Charge Kit, are also compatible with the new Xbox Series X and S controller. However, due to a small difference in size between the units, if the battery pack doesn’t fit correctly then don’t force it as damage may occur, and it should instead be replaced.

Can I use a Bluetooth headset with Xbox Series X and S

No, general Bluetooth headsets such as Apple Air Pods are not compatible with Xbox Series X and S, so cannot be used for that purpose. Instead, you will need to connect either a wired headset, or a wireless headset that has been specifically designed or adapted to work with the Xbox Series X and S.

How to install Xbox Series X games | How to transfer games to Xbox Series X external transfer | How to pair an Xbox Series X controller | Xbox Series X standby mode | Xbox Quick Resume | What discs work in an Xbox Series X | Does Xbox Series X play Blu-ray movies | How to eject an Xbox Series X disc | How to set up the Xbox mobile app | How to hard reset an Xbox Series X 

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We would suggest not. Unless you’re keen to match your console with one of the best gaming TVs, or you’re after the best performance possible in 2022, the Xbox Series S will suit you just fine and won’t break the bank. To make sure you’re not missing out on anything integral to your experience, though, we’re taking you through exactly who should be shelling out for the main event, and who can get away with spending just $300 on their next console.

What do you lose when you buy Xbox Series S?

Of course, you’re spending around $200 less when you buy an Xbox Series S, so there are some sacrifices you’ll make:

• No 4K resolution for gameplay
• No disc drive
• Less internal storage
• 4 teraflops processing power compared to Series X’s 12
• Less RAM

In practice, these features won’t make themselves known if you’ve never had your hands on an Xbox Series X. You won’t be juddering through the latest releases, and you won’t experience significantly longer load times. However, because the Xbox Series S can’t output at 4K resolution, your games won’t look quite as crisp. That’s not too large a pill to swallow if you don’t have a 4K TV, of course, but if you have invested in a high quality TV for Xbox Series X, it might be worth holding out a little longer and investing in the main console. 

That said, considering it’s the cheapest full console on the market right now (Nintendo Switch Standard and Nintendo Switch Lite aside), there’s still a notable performance boost in an Xbox Series S over an old Xbox One. You’re still getting DirectX raytracing, up to 120fps, and an 8-core AMD Zen 2 processor at 3.6GHz. If you’re dipping in and out of Xbox Game Pass titles on the weekends, you really don’t need much more than that in 2022. 

There is one more caveat to explore, though; the disc drive. You’ll be limited to digital experiences with the Xbox Series S. Unlike the PS5 Digital Edition, though, that’s not such a heavy blow. Game Pass offers such a compelling package by itself, that it’s easy to see a future where you won’t be buying games at all. With new Microsoft releases hitting Game Pass from day one, and a huge library ready to fill your backlog, there’s plenty packed into this subscription to keep you from reaching for a physical game. However, if you do have a physical Xbox One collection, you won’t be able to keep playing on your new console. 

You’ll find the full Xbox Series X vs Xbox Series S breakdown below.

Xbox Series X vs Xbox Series S

Xbox Series X

• 8-core AMD Zen 2 processor at 3.8GHz
• 12 teraflops processing power
• 1TB SSD
• 16GB RAM
• 4K resolution
• Up to 120fps
• 4K UHD disc drive
• Variable refresh rate
• DirectX raytracing
• Dolby TrueHD with Atmos
• HDMI 2.1
• 15.1 x 15.1 x 30.1cm

Xbox Series S

• 8-core AMD Zen 2 processor at 3.6GHz
• 4 teraflops processing power
• 512GB SSD
• 10GB RAM
• 1440p resolution
• Up to 120fps
• No disc drive
• Variable refresh rate
• DirectX raytracing
• Dolby TrueHD with Atmos
• HDMI 2.1
• 6.5 x 15.1 x 27.5cm 

Is Xbox Series S worth it in 2022?

So, is that $299 / £249 price actually worth it once you’ve dropped all the flashy features of the premium model? In certain situations, yes – the Xbox Series S is absolutely worth it in 2022. The ideal candidate for the cheaper console is someone who doesn’t have a 4K TV, wants to save cash by playing through Xbox Game Pass, doesn’t have too much space to spare, and doesn’t need super-fast processing speeds. Because of its 120fps capabilities, HDMI 2.1, and DirectX raytracing, the Xbox Series S is better value for money than the now-defunct Xbox One (assuming you can even get your hands on one), and will still give the latest releases a nice shine as well. 

The Xbox Series S will play all the same games as the Xbox Series X, they just might not look as glossy. If you’re up against a strict budget, though, there’s far more power in this tiny device than you might think at first glance. 

It’s also worth noting that we see far more discounts on the cheaper model, thanks to its historic reliability on the shelves. Xbox Series X deals could start appearing now that stock is more steady, but we wouldn’t expect the first price cuts for months yet. 

Who should buy Xbox Series X? 

If you’ve invested in a top of the range TV, you need a slot for all your old Xbox One games, and you want the best performance possible in 2022, you’ll have to shell out for the Xbox Series X. The Series S offers a strong bang-for-buck value, but it can’t compete with its fully fledged sibling in raw power. What’s more, Xbox Series X stock is far more readily available these days, so you’ll be able to find a console much more easily. 

For more shopping-savvy inspiration, check out our guide to the best Xbox One accessories (hint: they’re much cheaper and still work with both current-generation consoles). Or, if you’re using some of that saved cash for an ultra setup, take a look at the best Xbox Series X accessories and the best Xbox Series X headsets to boot. 

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The cheapest Xbox Series S bundle up for grabs today is the plain and simple additional controller. You’re getting the $299 console and the $50 controller for just $327.99 all in (opens in new tab) here, but considering this has already been 52% claimed at the time of writing, we wouldn’t hang about. 

Or, if you’re keen to maximise your value, you can opt for the slightly more expensive Fortnite / Rocket League bundle. This Xbox Series S deal will send you home with plenty of virtual coins for each title, as well as an additional controller for $339.98 ($20 off the $359.98 price) (opens in new tab). You’re saving a little less overall here, as that bundle often comes in at the same price as the console itself, but it’s still a rare offer not to be missed. 

You’ll find more information about both of these Xbox Series S bundles just below, and all the latest deals on the best Xbox accessories to pair with your console further down the page. 

Today’s best Xbox Series S bundle deals

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Xbox Series S | Additional Xbox controller | $347.99 $327.99 at Dell (opens in new tab)
Save $20 – While the Xbox Series X is impossible to find, you can actually save cash with this Xbox Series S bundle at Dell. You’re getting the $299 console and an extra controller (worth around $50) for just $327.99 today. We’d move fast, though, because this offer has already been 52% claimed at the time of writing.

View Deal (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab)

Xbox Series S Fortnite + Rocket League bundle | Additional controller | $359.98 $339.98 at Dell (opens in new tab)
Save $20 – If you’re after some virtual currency for your favorite free to play games, you’ll also find the Fortnite and Rocket League Xbox Series S bundle included in this offer. You’re saving $20 here and picking up an extra controller to boot.

View Deal (opens in new tab)

More of today’s best Xbox deals

If you managed to scoop up one of the Xbox Series S bundles above, you might be after some new gear. You’ll find all the lowest prices on the latest and greatest Xbox controllers, Xbox Series X headsets, and more just below.

We’re also rounding up everything we expect to see in future Xbox Series X bundles, but to get up and running with your new console, we’d recommend checking out the latest Xbox Game Pass Ultimate deals and Xbox Live Gold 12 month prices. 

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Earlier today on January 20, a Sony spokesperson said as much to the Wall Street Journal (opens in new tab). “We expect that Microsoft will abide by contractual agreements and continue to ensure Activision games are multiplatform,” the spokesperson told the outlet.

This is obviously a massive question that was immediately on the mind of players worldwide, when Microsoft announced the forthcoming acquisition of Activision Blizzard earlier this week. It was entirely possible that the company would make games like Call of Duty or Crash Bandicoot exclusive to Xbox platforms, cutting out PlayStation players entirely.

Several pieces of information could contradict this, though, including the new statement from Sony on contractual agreements. Firstly, Xbox boss Phil Spencer stress that the acquisition isn’t meant to “pull communities away” from PlayStation platforms. Secondly, one analyst believes that Call of Duty exclusivity for Xbox would make the acquisition “hard to get past regulators.”

Microsoft has a history of abiding by existing contractual agreements. When the company announced the acquisition of Bethesda parent company Zenimax back in 2020, Microsoft made it clear that they would follow the deals in place for Arkane’s Deathloop and Tango’s Ghostwire: Tokyo on PS5, for example.

However, it’s also reserved other upcoming Bethesda-developed games for Xbox platforms, revealing the upcoming Starfield to be an exclusive for Xbox and PC platforms, stamping out the possibility of a PlayStation launch. It’s still incredibly early days for the new acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft, and it even remains to be seen whether the deal will actually receive the approval of regulators, but for now we’ll have to wait and see what Microsoft ultimately does with Activision Blizzard’s extensive catalog of games.

Here’s what the new acquisition by Microsoft could mean for Activision Blizzard games and studios.

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Xbox Squad (opens in new tab), a French Xbox news site, says it caught word of a new official expansion card on the way (as spotted by VGC (opens in new tab)) and it even shared an image of a store listing for the new card on French gaming retailer Micromania. The image lists the price of the 500 GB card as €154.99 (roughly $180 or £130) and says its release date is set for November 14, 2021.

Those converted prices aren’t a whole lot less than the standard 1TB Seagate Storage Expansion Card, which currently sells for $220 / £220 as its standard price. However, it’s worth remembering that manufacturer prices often vary quite a bit between regions even beyond accounting for their currencies.

More options for storage expansion cards is a good thing, because right now they’re the only way you can make more room for Xbox Series X games on your console without needing to archive them on an external drive. You can play previous generation Xbox games straight from a standard external drive if you prefer, but new-gen Xbox games require faster storage to function.

Assuming this 500GB drive is legitimate, hopefully that means Microsoft and its partners are working on bigger storage options too – you can never have too many games installed at once.

Make sure you check out our guide to the best games on Xbox Game Pass so you can start filling up all your storage with only the finest free-with-your-subscription gaming experiences, and then get more to spare with our guide to the best Xbox Series X external hard drives.

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Just yesterday on July 14, Xbox posted the tweet just below through their official Twitter account, showcasing the four new Xbox Series X controllers themed around each variant of Loki. This was to coincide with the release of the season finale of Loki, which just wrapped up yesterday on Disney Plus.

There’s a controller for every variant pic.twitter.com/t1WLMt1jf8July 14, 2021

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Bad news if you’re looking to get your hands on these however: they’re not actually for sale. However, through Xbox’s new initiative, which allows anyone to customize a new Xbox Series X controller for purchase, you can pretty accurately recreate any one of the four controllers depicted above.

This new creation by Xbox is actually called the Xbox Design Lab. Note that, although you can customize your own Xbox Series X controller with whatever color scheme you can imagine and then order it, it’ll cost a fair bit more than your average Xbox Series X controller, if you were to purchase the controller without any customization straight from Xbox.

If you’re unfamiliar with what these four new controllers are referencing, then you’ve got a fair bit of catching up to do. Loki just rounded out its debut season on Disney Plus after six episodes, as Tom Hiddleston’s mischievous character got up to no good once again, this time surrounded by Lokis from alternate realities and dimensions, like Alligator Loki and Richard E. Grant’s Classic Loki, to name but a few of the bunch.

If you enjoyed the latest Disney Plus offering, then good news, because Loki is coming back for a sophomore season. Right now, there’s no information on when the forthcoming season will be gracing our screens, or even when it’ll start filming, but it’s welcome news for anyone who enjoyed the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s decidedly weird new foray.

But if you were left a bit confused by all the goings on in the final few episodes of Loki though, allow us to fill in the gaps. You can head right over to our Loki Sylvie explainer, our breakdown of the Loki ending, or our guide on the background of Morbius throughout Marvel’s comics.

For more reading after you’re done with the show itself, head over to our guide on the best Loki stories of all time for more.

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The Xbox Series S xScreen is a clip-on screen that’ll let you play your Xbox Series S anywhere there’s a power outlet. That way, when the Series S’ jerk big brother Xbox Series X is hogging the main TV, you can simply attach the xScreen to your Xbox Series S and game to your heart’s content. The 11.6-inch 1080p IPS screen has a pair of built-in stereo speakers, controls for things like volume and brightness, and a more than serviceable 60Hz refresh rate. The screen is sized such that it folds into the Xbox Series S for a flush fit – UPspec says the screen and console connected can fit inside a 15-inch laptop bag.

The xScreen connects directly to the Xbox Series S’ HDMI and USB ports and is designed so that the existing power and storage expansion slots are still easily accessible with the screen attached. Though the peripheral screen doesn’t need its own power supply, the console itself will still need to be plugged into a power outlet, so it’s not quite as mobile as an actual gaming laptop or the Nintendo Switch.

You might’ve noticed in the pictures and video that the xScreen’s color doesn’t perfectly match the Xbox Series S, but that’s just the prototype. UPspec says the final product will be painted for a seamless match to the Xbox.

According to UPspec’s roadmap, xScreens should start production and shipping in December of 2021, with deliveries expected in January or February 2022. Of course, that’s always subject to change, but the fact that the project was able to meet its funding goal in such a short time is definitely encouraging.

Despite reaching its funding goal, the project will stay live until August 6, giving you plenty of time to back the xScreen if you so choose. You’ll need to pledge at least $249 AU (about $187 USD) to get an xScreen display, but you can always give less than that if you just want to support the initiative. 

For what to play in the meantime, here are the best Xbox Series X games out now.

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The news comes from Matt Booty, Xbox Game Studios head, speaking to a closed presentation to investors and analysts this past week. “We will continue to look for studios that can add great people, great teams, and great new ideas to our lineup,” the head of Xbox Game Studios said during the briefing.

That Xbox is on the hunt for more acquisitions is unlikely to come as a great surprise. Ever since Microsoft moved to acquire Bethesda and the studios underneath it last year in September 2020, various reports have claimed knowledge of Xbox actively pursuing further acquisitions of other game developers.

So far though, none of these claims have materialized. The situation as of this moment is that Microsoft’s purchase of Bethesda’s parent company was approved by a European Union ruling body as of earlier this year in March, and Microsoft now officially owns Bethesda, as well as other game studios that were previously owned by the Maryland-based company. That includes the likes of Arkane, Machine Games, and many other development studios around the world.

As for what this deal means for Bethesda’s games, we’re yet to see. So far, Microsoft has pledged to uphold the previous exclusivity deals for Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo, both of which are timed console exclusives for the PS5. However, there’s nothing about speculation surrounding Bethesda’s upcoming RPG Starfield, as neither Bethesda or Microsoft have revealed whether the new game will be exclusive to Xbox consoles when it finally launches.

As for Booty’s comments though, we ultimately have no idea which studios Microsoft could potentially be attempting to acquire. A previous report claimed that Microsoft was in talks with Bungie for a potential acquisition, although the head of the development studio shut those rumors down pretty swiftly through Twitter, calling the rumors “fake.” We’ll just have to wait and see how Microsoft’s attitude towards acquiring new developers plays out over the coming months and years.

If you’re still trying to purchase the more powerful version of Microsoft’s next-gen console, you can head over to our Xbox Series X bundles guide for details of retailers with projected and current stock.

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Original Story: The Xbox Pride 2021 celebrations have begun, and there’s tons of ways to get involved this year – I just can’t help but wonder why the Pride Series X controller isn’t available for purchase?

Microsoft has revealed a brand-new Pride collection that features Xbox, Halo, and Psychonauts-branded swag in a variety of Pride-themed designs. One design features the Xbox circle logo with a bunch of different Pride flags within it, including the transgender pride flag, the nonbinary pride flag, the intersex pride flag, the modern pride flag, and many more.  I’m partial to the Master Chief helmet with the pride flags in his visor, but there are plenty of great options.

However, myself and other community members noticed that the Pride 2021 Xbox Wireless Controller is only available as a gift for “key influencers and media in the US and internationally”, not for purchase. That’s definitely a bummer, as it’s a gorgeous controller that any member of the LGBTQIA+ community would love to own. We’ve reached out to Xbox for comment on the controller’s status, and will update this story accordingly.

Ok but this Pride-themed Xbox controller is really awesome ✨Make it available to purchase plz 👀 https://t.co/D1GzPkwOcp pic.twitter.com/AlEw6ASrYFJune 1, 2021

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Unbuyable controllers aside, Microsoft is doing a lot more for Pride 2021, including making a $150,000 donation to LGBTQIA+ nonprofits and highlighting stories of Team Xbox and Microsoft members. You can read more of their stories here (opens in new tab). There’s also a 2021 Forza Rainbow livery available in Forza Horizon 4 and Forza Motorsport 7, as well as a Pride nameplate for Halo: The Master Chief Collection. 

You can earn Microsoft Rewards points for donation to organizations that support LGBTQIA+ communities directly through Xbox, and any donations made through June will be matched by Microsoft. The organizations include The Trevor Project, which is the world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention for LGBTQ youth; OutRight Action International, which works at national, regional, and international levels to advance human rights; and Transgender Law Center, which advocates for changes to law and policy to protect people of all gender identities and expressions.

Dontnod’s Tell Me Why is free to keep on Xbox and PC this month as part of Microsoft’s Pride month celebrations. Tell Me Why stars trans protagonist Tyler Ronan, so it’s a great opportunity to celebrate LGBTQIA+ representation in games. And Xbox’s Twitch channel (opens in new tab) will host takeovers throughout the month of June featuring creators and devs from the LGBTQIA+ community. 

For all the details on how Microsoft is celebrating Pride month, head here (opens in new tab). 

Read our Tell Me Why review. 

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Earlier this week on March 8, a YouTube video from channel Joe Chip (opens in new tab) appeared online, detailing the new workaround. It turns out that Xbox Insiders have access to the new Edge browser on their Xbox consoles, and it’s through this browser that they can activate GeForce Now, and play Steam games then and there through the browser.

This opens up a massive doorway for Xbox users to play other console-exclusive games on Steam like Death Stranding, or smaller indie gems like Loop Hero. Additionally, these preview users can also run apps for Google Stadia and the Epic Games Store, meaning it’s technically possible to run games from both platforms on the Xbox’s Edge browser.

However, not all games are open to being played through this clever workaround. It turns out that if a game through Steam or the Epic Games Store requires a mouse and keyboard, it can’t be played through the Xbox’s Edge browser, as the console only supports a controller.

Elsewhere in the landscape of game streaming, reports are circulating that Microsoft is focusing on a browser-based streaming service for its xCloud streaming platform. Last month in February, it was claimed that Xbox was testing a browser-based streaming service, as a workaround for iOS users to play games on the go without having to go through the App Store, which had previously barred Xbox’s streaming service, while it launched on Android with upwards of 100 games.

For a rundown of the best games to play on the go with Xbox, head over to our best Xbox Cloud gaming titles guide for more.

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