Xbox Series S Lockhart to be revealed this August

According to the latest information from independent sources speaking to Eurogamer and Venture Beat, Microsoft will take the wraps off its Xbox Series S 'Lockhart' console in August this year. The reveal was originally planned for the 20/20 event lined up for June. However, some may have noticed that Microsoft's new monthly event has failed to turn up this month. This is because of the Black Lives Matter protests in the US, and the impact these events have had on the reveal/launch schedules of rivals like Sony.

Microsoft's next 20/20 event, which should actually materialise in July, is expected to be a first-party showcase, which will have a sprinkling of third party titles too. After a month's gap, that seems like a bit of a disappointment. Checking through HEXUS reader comments, people were already generally deflated by the Xbox 20/20 May event.

More musings over the Xbox Series S specs

Late last week HEXUS reported on the Xbox Series S 'Lockhart' showing up in the latest Microsoft GameCore Developer Kit documentation (GDK June 2020). Those documents had references to developer profiles which could be selected to test games using Xbox Series S-alike hardware configurations. Indications were that Lockhart would feature a lower tier AMD APU, and perhaps less RAM, allowing Microsoft to present a next-gen console at an unbeatable price. Remember Sony's cheaper 'Digital Edition' PS5 console simply lacks an ODD, everything else remains the same.

New information gleaned by The Verge gives a closer look at what to expect with the cheaper Xbox Series S:

CPU: same CPU/speeds as with the Xbox Series X
GPU: slower with fewer CUs. Touted 4 teraflops of performance, vs 12 teraflops for the Series X
RAM: 7.5GB of usable RAM vs 13.5GB of usable RAM in the Series X

Microsoft's cheaper next gen console is expected to be made to target people who use or will still be happy to play at 1080p. That's a quarter the accelerated pixels required for the target market of the Xbox Series X, but with a third of the GPU performance.

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But can it Run Crysis - Remastered?

Parents will not splash out for a Series X if this is going to be significantly cheaper. That means this machine could become the standard, because of a larger user base. Will it have the same SSD? If not, that will really hurt loading times and the PS5 will be so much better off as there is only one set hardware standard.

By creating this machine, Microsoft could be shooting themselves in the foot. I don't see who would want it apart from the parents of little Johnny who don't understand and buy the cheaper one and as a Christmas launch guess who will be buying those consoles.

Will be interesting to see what the price points are for both consoles, if it's half the price then parents will end up purchasing that over the more expensive one. If it's £50-100 cheaper is it worth producing two consoles. Unless they are just binning the failed series X GPUS @ 12TF and use them for the lower spec console. Still I can't see a the RRP being that much lower if that's the only difference.

Will little Johnny just ask for a PS5 so his parents can't order the slower one?

Lorcaran
Parents will not splash out for a Series X if this is going to be significantly cheaper. That means this machine could become the standard, because of a larger user base. Will it have the same SSD? If not, that will really hurt loading times and the PS5 will be so much better off as there is only one set hardware standard.

By creating this machine, Microsoft could be shooting themselves in the foot. I don't see who would want it apart from the parents of little Johnny who don't understand and buy the cheaper one and as a Christmas launch guess who will be buying those consoles.

Will be interesting to see what the price points are for both consoles, if it's half the price then parents will end up purchasing that over the more expensive one. If it's £50-100 cheaper is it worth producing two consoles. Unless they are just binning the failed series X GPUS @ 12TF and use them for the lower spec console. Still I can't see a the RRP being that much lower if that's the only difference.

Will little Johnny just ask for a PS5 so his parents can't order the slower one?

But if it's half the price of a PS5 then it WILL sell well…