With the holiday season fast approaching, Microsoft is working on giving its Xbox customers – old and new – its best gift yet. In a post on Xbox’s official news blog, the tech giant has announced its plans to launch a starter bundle for the Xbox Series S at the end of this month.
The company designed the Starter Bundle for both players who are new to the gaming scene as well as those who want to upgrade to a next-gen console. The bundle comes with a ton of benefits, including an Xbox Series S 512GB console, a 3-month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership, and a wireless controller, and will cost $299.99.
When purchased separately, the Xbox Series S and the wireless controller minus the Game Pass membership retail for the same price as the total Starter Bundle. What this means is that new gamers will save $50, the price of the 3-month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership, when they purchase the package.
Apart from the Xbox Game Pass access, the Starter Bundle provides access to the Xbox Cloud Gaming, EA Play, Xbox Live Gold membership, and Windows Game Pass. Microsoft is not done, though, as the Starter Bundle also offers other goodies, like in-game content, consumables, and member discounts on specific games.
Interestingly, this won’t be Microsoft’s first attempt at gifting its Xbox Series S users a holiday present. In late 2022, the company slashed the console’s price to $249.99, even though it was for a brief period. With this move, it appears the company wants to make it an annual thing.
Should this be the case, we doubt the recipients will complain. If anything, these freebies will encourage more people to purchase the console. Or maybe that’s all it ever was for the company – a marketing tactic to help sell more Xbox Series S consoles during the holiday period. Regardless of the reason, it is a net positive for consumers given it will provide more value for their money.
The Xbox Series S Starter Bundle is currently available for pre-order on the Microsoft store.
