Soapbox: Four Years On, I’m Already Nostalgic For The Early Xbox Series X|S Era

This Sunday, November 10th, marks exactly four years since the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S officially went on sale for the first time in 2020. It’s scary to think it’s been that long – I was covering the launch extensively here at Pure Xbox at the time, and thinking back, I have to admit I’m already feeling nostalgic about those early years.

It all started with the lead-up, which officially began at The Game Awards 2019 when Microsoft revealed the Xbox Series X out of nowhere. Over the following year, more and more details began to trickle out about the console and what it was capable of, and we were treated to snippets of gameplay for the likes of Yakuza: Like a Dragon, DIRT 5, Watch Dogs: Legion and a whole bunch of first-party titles that looked to take advantage of the Series X hardware at launch.

There was so much excitement in the air that Hookshot Media even decided to bring back Pure Xbox after a multi-year hiatus (!), and ultimately it felt like Microsoft was going to deliver a system that would get off to a very strong start, unlike the Xbox One’s botched launch in 2013. In my opinion, that’s exactly what happened, alongside the Xbox Series S which remained a secret until very late in the year – it was revealed in September and launched in December.

There’s an obvious nostalgia that’s attached to a new console launch, but it’s also the buzz around Xbox that really sticks in the memory four years later. The likes of Phil Spencer, Jason Ronald and Aaron Greenberg were making headlines on a near-weekly basis due to the sheer number of interviews they were conducting at the time, and these interviews were often about innovations such as FPS Boost and Quick Resume that were new to the Series X and S.

Speaking of FPS Boost, how cool was that?! It was so great to see classic Xbox games getting a performance boost on a semi-regular basis, and the same goes for backwards compatibility when they were still adding new titles to that program. Remember the day they added 76 new BC titles in one go? That was so exciting to see.

I used to look at our Push Square and Nintendo Life colleagues and think, “everything seems so quiet in your worlds, while Xbox is absolutely on fire right now”. PlayStation’s Jim Ryan would come out a handful of times a year and maybe deliver an interview-or-two, while Xbox’s Phil Spencer seemed to be everywhere on social media at all times.

It could never last, but it felt like it could. 2021 was such an unbelievable year for Xbox Game Pass compared to the years that came before it, especially considering EA Play was added to Game Pass Ultimate a few months prior, and of course we can’t forget about the massive acquisition of Bethesda as well! The brand was firing on most cylinders at this time (let’s not talk about the Halo Infinite delay), and the future of Xbox seemed extremely bright.

Now, look, I know I’m talking in the past tense here, but I have no regrets whatsoever about buying into the Xbox Series X|S generation. The consoles have proven to be incredibly well-designed over the past few years, we’ve seen some unbelievable games, I love the features like Quick Resume and backwards compatibility, Xbox Game Pass has delivered some incredible titles… the list goes on. It’s not all been smooth sailing, but I believe this has easily been the best generation from a hardware and features standpoint that Xbox has ever delivered.

I think the reason I’m feeling nostalgic isn’t because Xbox is bad these days, but everything’s quietened down. FPS Boost and backwards compatibility are still there, but they’re not being added to anymore. Xbox Games with Gold is gone. Phil Spencer and his team don’t talk as much anymore. The Activision Blizzard acquisition has gone through, but we’ve only seen a few games added to Game Pass so far (admittedly including the massive Black Ops 6!).

Things will inevitably ramp up again as we approach the next Xbox generation (hopefully including a handheld of some form), but for now, let’s use this relatively quiet period to celebrate two consoles that have given us so much joy over the past four years. Hopefully we’ll get many more moments to reminisce about as the Series X|S era rolls on…

How are you feeling about these consoles four years later? Tell us in the comments down below.