5 Reasons Why You Should Buy an Xbox One For Black Friday

There’s a SKU For Everyone

Since Phil Spencer took over the Xbox ship, things have started to come up Milhouse. Not only does Microsoft Game Studios now boast an additional bunch of high-profile studios such as Obsidian Entertainment pumping out quality games, but the hardware’s been revised, streamlined, and diversified into a few different SKUs.

First, we’ve got the headliner Xbox One X. If you’re looking for the very best console gaming experience, this is where you want to look. It’s the most powerful console on the market right now and is capable of displaying games in 4K, 60 FPS with HDR. That added power also helps cut down loading times, and generally improves how games perform. Oh, and it’s got a 1TB HDD packed in with a UHD 4K Blu-Ray player, which is above and beyond what you’ll find in the PS4.

You’ve then got the Xbox One S. This is the middle-tier SKU that offers a normal blu-ray disc drive, either a 500 GB or 1 TB HDD, and the ability to play all the same games as the One X, just in 1080p rather than 4K.

Finally, you’ve got the all-digital system. This one doesn’t have a disc drive and is for those wanting to just download their games either by purchasing them from the store separately, or by making use of Microsoft’s Game Pass service (more on that in a moment).

The Xbox One X right now comes in at $419 on Amazon, while the normal Xbox One S comes in at $229, and the All-Digital system comes in at $235. Regardless of which one you go for, you’re going to get a bunch of value now. Just look into the systems, figure out which one works out best for you and meets your needs, and go for it.

Xbox Game Pass Offers Great Value

I was skeptical of Xbox Game Pass when it first launched. I’d already dabbled in PlayStation Now and hadn’t been all that impressed. Then Microsoft announced its promotional offers this year and I’ve done a complete 180.

Let me quickly break down what Game Pass is for those unaware. This is basically Netflix but for video games and on your Xbox. Each month, Microsoft releases a new bunch of games, while also maybe taking one or two of the least popular titles off the service. What you’re left with is over 100 Xbox One and Xbox 360 games you’re able to download and play for free, as long as your subscription is active.

There’s no limitations to the amount of games you can download or how long you play for, and Microsoft’s even adding in every one of its first-party titles, such as Gears 5, recently released third-party games like The Outer Worlds, and future titles like Halo Infinite onto the service on day-one.

For just an Xbox Game Pass subscription, you’ll be paying $9.99 a month. However, if you’ve got a PC, and are going to be playing on your Xbox One online, Game Pass Ultimate is our personal pick.

This subscription package gets you access to the Xbox Game Pass library, the Game Pass for PC library (which includes some exclusive PC titles), as well as your Xbox Live Gold subscription you’ll need to play online. Toss in the current promotion of 6 months of Spotify Premium for free all for $14.99 a month and you’ve got a bargain.

While you may not be able to afford $60 for a new release each month (or maybe every week or two), paying $14.99 a month for basically everything you need from your Xbox One is a bit of a winner.

An Extensive Library of Games

Even if the subscription route doesn’t tickle your fancy, you can rest assured that the Xbox One library has acquired some absolute gems since its inception five years ago.

Gears of War 4 and Gears 5, Outer Worlds, Metal Gear Solid 5, Forza Horizon 4, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Shadow of the Tomb Raider, a ridiculous amount of indies, Call of Duty, FIFA, Madden. Basically, everything you want (outside of Sony and Nintendo exclusives) is here, and it all plays beautifully.

While coming into this console generation so late may seem counter-intuitive at first, being able to pick up the hardware for less, and having a huge library of games to dive into and check out for the first time also means you’ll get the most out of your system for less. Especially when you can pick up some of these classics for pennies thanks to the used games market.

Cross-Play Is (Slowly) Breaking Down Barriers

In the past, one of the big deciding factors when it came to deciding what console you should buy was always what your friends or family were playing on. After all, it’s no good picking up an Xbox One if all of your friends are playing CoD, Fortnite, and Rocket League on the PS4. You can’t play together! Well… at least you couldn’t.

We’re now in the transition period between cross-play not being a thing and it being available in every multiplayer experience you come across. For now, the likes of Rocket League, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Fortnite are leading the charge when it comes to cross-play experiences online between Xbox One and PS4.

Give it another six months, though, and you can bet your bottom dollar the library will continue to grow.

With that no longer being an issue, you can focus on the more important things. What controller feels more comfortable in your hand? What exclusive games do you want to play more? And which console ticks all of the boxes for you. Forget about your PS4-owning friends, you can just wreck them on CoD on your Xbox One now anyway.

Play Your Way

No matter who you are, Microsoft has provided players with a plethora of different controllers for them to choose from, customize, and adapt to their needs.

The standard Xbox One controller you’ll get in the box with your console is good enough for most people, but for those looking for something a little fancier and more personal, you can always customize and personalize your own over at Xbox Design Lab.

For those wanting an improvement in their performance, or just to have more bells and whistles, the Xbox Elite Controller Series 2 has just released, with short hair trigger locks, adjustable-tension thumbsticks, a rubberized grip, and the paddles on the back which can be mapped to specific button presses.

Most importantly, in our opinion, though, is the Xbox Adaptive Controller. If you have limited mobility, Microsoft has designed a controller that is essentially a unified hub for other accessibility devices to be plugged into to help you interact with your games.

While this might not apply to everyone, the fact that Microsoft is so forward-thinking about accessibility in its ecosystem gets the thumbs up from us. Besides, what’s not to like about having a bunch of different controller options at different price points, too.