An Xbox Series S is a better deal than streaming games on a FireStick

Microsoft is pushing its “no console required” marketing campaign pretty hard, and Amazon is even selling a bundle that includes an Amazon Fire Stick, controller, and Game Pass voucher. But before you jump on that Xbox streaming deal, consider the Xbox Series S instead.

I really think the negative opinions on the Series S are a little overblown, and while I can’t really recommend the Series S on the whole anymore, compared to this Xbox streaming arrangement, there are some reasons to get this plucky little console that might actually make sense.

A Game Pass is required for streaming

If you want to stream Xbox games on Microsoft’s streaming service, you’ll need to be a Game Pass subscriber. This is probably something you’ll want to subscribe to whether you have a console or not, but at least with the Series S, you can opt out of a subscription and just buy your games and play them at your leisure.

Series S has better picture quality

Although the Series S’s internal resolution for gaming is typically between 1080p and 1440p, you’ll find that the actual image quality is actually better than a 4K game stream in most cases. That’s because of bandwidth and compression. Unlike video streaming services, game streaming doesn’t have the luxury of pre-compressing and optimizing video data. The remote console’s video output must be compressed in near real-time to make the game playable, and you’ll simply never get the same overall quality as you would with an uncompressed local feed directly from an HDMI port.

When streaming games, various compression artifacts often occur that make the image appear blurry or lack detail. This does not even take into account the varying internet speeds and the general unpredictability of the internet as a network infrastructure.

Series S supports high frame rates and advanced TV features

Despite the relatively low specs, you can play some games at 120Hz. If you have a modern TV with VRR, HDR, or Dolby Vision support, the Series S can take advantage of those features. You won’t get the full benefit of your TV if you stream games over the internet, and many of those features go a long way toward making gaming more appealing, even if it’s “just” a Series S.

No internet? No problem!

While the Series S is an all-digital console that requires an internet connection to purchase and download games, once you download your games, you no longer need to be connected to the internet to play. As long as the Xbox is set as your primary console, it doesn’t matter if the internet goes down. Of course, if there’s no internet or the connection is spotty, you won’t be able to play via the cloud.

You have access to a much larger selection of games

As of this writing, you can only stream games that are part of the Game Pass collection. This includes Xbox first-party games and then a rotating selection of titles that are part of the games library. If you own a Series S, you’ll have full access to all games for Xbox Series, Xbox One, and numerous backwards compatible titles. This may not always be the case, as Microsoft may allow users to stream all the games they’ve purchased at some point in 2024

Doing a good deal is crucial

As I write this, the base Fire Stick and Xbox controller bundle costs around $110, with a whopping discount of around $70 if you’re a Prime member. However, the Prime discount may no longer be valid by the time you read this, so the regular list price applies here.

The list price of a Series S is around $350, but you definitely shouldn’t buy it at that price! In that case, you might as well get the $500 Series X. No, to compete with the streaming bundle, the Series S will have to be much cheaper, but the good news is that various retailers often sell the little console well below that suggested price.

At around $200 for a new model, I think it’s definitely worth going beyond the streaming bundle. Perhaps most importantly, a used Series S can be had for about the same price as the streaming bundle, and then it’s an absolute no-brainer in my opinion. The Series S is a great used console because there really isn’t much that can go wrong with these devices. However you do it, if the price is right, a Series S is the better option in this comparison no matter how you look at it.