The Series X is considered Xbox’s ‘mid-gen refresh’ – meaning no ‘Series X Pro’

During the 8th generation of consoles we saw both Sony and Microsoft release mid-generation refreshes of their consoles, with Sony developing the PS4 Pro and Microsoft making the Xbox One X. Interestingly, it seems as though we will not be getting any mid-gen refreshes from Xbox this time round – as the Series X is already viewed internally as the console manufacturer’s ‘Pro’ variant.

During the most recent episode of Digital Foundry’s weekly podcast, hosts Richard Leadbetter, John Linneman and Alex Battaglia discussed the potential of an Xbox Series X Pro, with the team claiming that “Microsoft told us this back when we saw the Series X for the first time that the Series X is their mid gen refresh. They just decided to do it, ahead of time, I guess you could say.”

They continued, “The Series S is what they consider the standard machine and then Series X is, you know, that's getting ahead of the cart there and this is what you might get from a mid gen console.”

It is interesting to see the approach that Microsoft has taken with its consoles this generation. Amid rumours that Sony is working on a PS5 Pro, the lack of any mid-gen console refreshes from Microsoft could end up affecting the success of the platform in the long run.

That said, with the Series S being Xbox’s main console for the generation, it is clear that Sony and Microsoft are heading in different directions strategy-wise. It will be interesting to see how this affects the 9th console generation.

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