If you’ve been looking to pick up a new-gen console on the cheap, then today’s your lucky day. Target’s got the Xbox Series S on sale at an eye-popping discount—$219.99, or $80 off. Sure, it kinda looks like a hot plate. But it’s still a lot less fugly than the PlayStation 5, and we’re big fans of the small-but-mighty member of the Xbox console lineup.
At under $250, the Series S ticks a lot of boxes for most consumers, and is a great option for younger gamers or a second-screen setup. But if you’re a diehard collector of physical media or someone for whom specs and frame rate matter, this probably isn’t the best Xbox for you.
But it gets better! The Target bundle also includes a three-month subscription to Xbox Game Pass, which means you’ll have access to a massive library of excellent games pretty much immediately. There’s some rock-solid options on Microsoft’s subscription service right now, whether you enjoy beefy RPGs like Persona 3 Reload, or more laid-back experiences like A Little to the Left. Game Pass has pretty much every Yakuza game except the one that just came out. And the year’s most talked-about game so far, Palworld, is an Xbox console exclusive. If you’ve been meaning to “get back into games” for a while, this is a mighty fine way to do it.
Earlier this week, we learned that Xbox has big plans for hardware, with plans for a holiday announcement (a handheld? a Series X|S refresh? possibly both?) and a powerful next-gen console. So despite what you might have heard online earlier this month, Xbox is not going third-party anytime soon.