The Xbox Series S is one of my favorite purchases. It’s the little machine that could, a less powerful version of a next-gen console, that somehow is able to run everything anyway. Today you can get one for under $200, the cheapest it’s ever been—even cheaper than last week’s cheapest ever. You know, if you don’t mind being part of the evils of corporate America.
I know this reads like one of those posts where Kotaku gets a giant wad of cash for every purchase, but honestly, I’m writing this up because it’s so damned cheap. The catch is you need to buy it through Amazon, and Amazon is awful.
As spotted by IGN for this Cyber Monday, Amazon has the Xbox Series S at $237.99. However, when you buy the “Holiday Console,” you also get $40 of Amazon credit if you put in the code “XBOX” at checkout.
Did I lie? Is it really under $200 if you need to pay $238 to get the credit? I’m going with: yes. Because, the truth is, we all buy from Amazon all the damn time, even though we know we shouldn’t. Even though we know how it treats its workers. Even though it is about to cut 10,000 jobs likely because the home surveillance machine Alexa is a colossal $10bn flop.
So, you know, having $40 on your Amazon account is the same as having $40 in your bank account that you’d have spent on Amazon anyway. In fact, the next $40-worth of stuff you buy from Amazon will feel like it’s free! It doesn’t matter that you put the money there yourself, it’ll still feel like a free thing when you order, and the checkout says it’s covered. We’re so stupid.
However, you do end up getting a really awesome console, while giving Microsoft, that already sells it at a loss, far less money. Sure, you’ll end up spending a fortune more on expanded storage for it, because the S comes with a ludicrous 364GB free on its puny SSD. And yeah, you’re going to pay a monthly tithe to Game Pass for there to be any point in owning it. And then you’ll need that second controller...
Capitalism is evil! But we still want games consoles, and this is the cheapest way you’re going to get a brand new one. Now, who wants to give me a job in advertorial?