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Five years ago today, the Xbox Series X sought to reimagine what the term “Xbox” even was. Back then, the big, black, boxy console promised players they could get peak performance for couch-based gaming for the low price of $500. In 2025, that console with the optical drive now costs $150 more than it did in 2020, and it has been eclipsed by the latest gaming-ready PC chips many times over.
Microsoft’s Game Pass model, which rose along with the Series X to become the best deal in…
