Have you heard of Xbox’s newest scam? No? Well…
So today, Xbox announced the return of its purchasing plan known as “Xbox All Access”, which initially launched in the summer of 2018. The plan basically allows you to buy an Xbox One S or Xbox One X, Xbox Live, and Xbox Game Pass without paying the upfront cost. Instead, you pay monthly fee; $21.99 for the Xbox One S and $30.99 for the Xbox One X. Well, today’s news added a few new details to that plan. First, the Xbox One S All-Digital edition (aka the Xbox One S.A.D.) will be an option for $19.99 a month. Next, they increased the monthly price for the Xbox One S standard by $1 (yea you thought I wouldn’t notice that huh you fuckers…). Finally, the big selling point they’re making is that there will be an option to upgrade to Project Scarlett when it releases in Holiday 2020. The main reason Xbox is offering/promoting this plan is that console sales have nosedived since the next-gen announcement, and not just for Xbox. Both PlayStation and Xbox are seeing plummeting sales numbers over the last few months and there’s no end in sight. While this is very normal for the year before next-gen consoles are released, they still have tons of upgraded editions of the OG consoles to move and it’s probably looking like they’ll be stuck with those when the next-gen kicks off. So let’s break this down a bit because that was a shit ton of information…
Let me start by saying I’m in a similar boat with many of you. I am an OG Xbox One owner, and these new games that are coming out (Control, Gears 5, Call of Duty Modern Warfare) are way too powerful for the OG consoles. So I’ve been looking around on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist for a used Xbox One X to hold me over until Scarlett, and you know how much they’re going for right now? $250. That’s a steal compared to this offer. Someone added up the cost of the base console, Xbox Live and Xbox Game Pass for the 24-month Xbox All Access plan and it is barely less than the cost of all 3 upfront (<$10). So you’re still paying full price for any of these upgraded consoles, and at the end of it all, you’re still going to be stuck trying to sell it next holiday season to upgrade to Project Scarlett. But they’re trying to make it seem like you’re getting a bargain with this service by throwing in Xbox Live and Xbox Game Pass. Polish a turd and it’s still a turd Microsoft.
And I haven’t even talked about this “upgrade to Scarlett” option yet. So in order to upgrade, you have to have made 18 months’ worth of payments (that’s 75% of the payments). And this is where they’re going to get you: we have no idea how expensive the new consoles are going to be yet. They could literally announce next E3 that Project Scarlett will be $599. Hell, it could be $799 with how powerful they’re claiming it will be. You know what all the people who bought Xbox All Access are going to be? Fucked. They’re gonna be fucked. In the fine print, they tell you that unless you buy the Xbox One X plan, you have to pay 18 installments on your All Access plan before you can upgrade to Scarlett. So if you went out and bought the plan today, by this time next year you’ll have paid ~$275, and you still owe ~$140 before you can upgrade to the Scarlett plan, which could cost $40-50 a month! If the people who purchase this plan can’t afford the upfront cost of a console, what makes you think that they will be able to afford $40-50 a month?!?
So what should you do then if you’re an OG Xbox One owner and you want to experience Modern Warfare, Cyberpunk 2077, and all these new games at their best performance? Well, if you insist on staying with Xbox through all this bullshit, I would just buy a used Xbox One X that you should be able to trade-in at Gamestop or any other dealer for the maximum discount on Scarlett. But if I were you, now is the perfect time to make the move to PlayStation or PC. PS4 Pros are going for $250 as well, and you can play The Last of Us 2 on it next May. And gaming PCs are as affordable as they’ve ever been. Regardless, don’t buy into this All Access plan. It is an absolute waste of your money.
