Opinion: The Value Proposition Of Xbox Series S Is Better Than Ever In 2025

Ever since Nintendo formally announced the Switch 2 earlier in the year, I’d convinced myself I was going to buy one. The hardware looks a good step forward, third-party support on Switch 1 was great, and I don’t know… who doesn’t love a new toy to mess around with, right? The thing is though, I’ve not really managed to find a reason to put down all that money to invest in the ecosystem yet, and after an impromptu shopping trip where I walked away with a cheap Xbox Series S instead, that reason feels like it’s moving further and further down the line.

Let me elaborate on that shopping trip first. I recently headed into my local town centre here in the UK for just a good old browse – I’ve always got gaming goodies on the mind but I didn’t really have anything specific I was going for. I checked out a local pawn shop and saw both an under-RRP Switch 2 and a dirt-cheap Xbox Series S – with a slot in my newly-constructed mancave up for grabs. In the end I walked away with the Xbox, and I’m very pleased with my decision for a host of reasons.

One of them is the hardware itself, of course. I’ve had an Xbox Series X since the start of the generation (taking up a living room spot ever since) and I’m very happy with it – it’s been great to play current-gen games in high fidelity on console and make use of physical media. However, I’ve only spent little bits of time here and there on friends’ Series S consoles, and after now owning one for a good few days, I’m massively impressed by what it can do.

So far, I’ve checked out some 120FPS Gears Reloaded & Modern Warfare 3, booted up the “flawless” performer Cronos: The New Dawn, cruised around on Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown and played a few FPS-boosted backwards compatible titles – and the experience really is amazing for the price of this thing. I paid less than £150 here in the UK, and you can’t get gaming performance like this for anywhere close to that price. Last-gen consoles like the PS4 are the most direct comparison when it comes to pricing on the UK market, and the experience of using the Series S on a day-to-day basis is just miles better than those sluggish Gen 8 consoles.

I know that you’ve probably heard about the great value of the Xbox Series S plenty of times since the system launched five years ago, but I want to give a little bit of 2025 perspective on things here. Consoles (and gaming tech in general) have just gone up and up in price over the last few years. Microsoft has raised the cost of new consoles a few times now — as has Sony — and when you consider the collective cost of the Switch 2 once you’ve picked up a game or two, Series S is unmatched, particularly when you take the used market into account. These things are just so cheap for what they can do and for what you can play on them.

Then there’s Game Pass of course, which has been back in the headlines in terms of its business viability as of late. Whether Microsoft is making bank from the service remains Microsoft’s concern, but you really can’t question the value from a consumer point of view. I can bring this sub-£150 console home, sign up to XGP (or even pick up a cheap trial to start with) and I’m up and running with some massive recent releases for a relatively tiny outlay. Recent Call of Duty titles, Clair Obscur, DOOM: The Dark Ages, Oblivion Remastered – they’re all here and running great on Xbox Series S for not much more than what a last-gen console still costs. It’s quite remarkable, really.

And I know, Switch 2 and PS5 offer something different, especially when you take into account their exclusive games libraries. But let’s not forget that Microsoft has acquired two absolutely massive publishers since the current generation started in 2020, securing whatever those companies make as Xbox — and Game Pass — releases. There are almost too many games to play these days as it is, and I certainly don’t boot my Xbox up anymore with nothing to play. Perhaps I did during the end of the Xbox One and early Xbox Series eras, but definitely not anymore.

Anyway, I just wanted to champion Xbox Series S a little more here in 2025, because if anything, the value it offers has gone up since the start of its lifecycle. I watched that Nintendo Direct last week hoping it would convince me to buy a Switch 2, but after concluding that I’m looking at around £500 just to get started with the system, it’s quite a tough sell for me personally right now. Everything in the world feels like it’s getting more and more expensive, but the Xbox Series S is providing some relief from that in the gaming world right now. It’s a fantastically accessible way to play current-gen titles, and we’d recommend it to anyone looking to do just that – even over the stiff competition.

Any thoughts on where Xbox Series S is in 2025? Talk to us about all of this down in the comments.