Xbox Series X confirmed for November launch — but it's not all good news

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Both the Xbox Series X and PS5 have held tight to a "Holiday 2020" launch timeframe since being first announced, which has been widely interpreted as meaning November. But Microsoft is the first to actually start narrowing down the date for the Xbox Series X launch.

As part of a blog post outlining a number of launch details, including some incredibly disappointing news for Halo fans, Microsoft has confirmed that the Xbox Series X will be launching in November.

While this may not seem like massive news at first blush (after all, this has been our projection since the first mention of "Holiday 2020" as the launch date) the confirmation in an official blog post this close to the actual launch means the timeline for the console launch is set in stone.

While you may feel like that went without saying, I'll point you to the Halo: Infinite delay. Just over a week ago, Phil Spencer was on a podcast touting the simultaneous launch of that game with the Xbox Series X as a momentous occasion, the first time a Halo game would be launching day and date with a console since the original Xbox. 

With Microsoft already breaking it to gamers that Halo: Infinite will not be coming until 2021, it wouldn't stick its neck out by narrowing down the launch date for the console unless it was 100% certain that the Series X would arrive in November.

As for exactly when in November the Xbox Series X will be launching, we still don't know. Launch dates of the previous generations have varied from November 7 to November 22, so the safe money is somewhere in that window. 

Sean Riley

Sean Riley has been covering tech professionally for over a decade now. Most of that time was as a freelancer covering varied topics including phones, wearables, tablets, smart home devices, laptops, AR, VR, mobile payments, fintech, and more.  Sean is the resident mobile expert at Laptop Mag, specializing in phones and wearables, you'll find plenty of news, reviews, how-to, and opinion pieces on these subjects from him here. But Laptop Mag has also proven a perfect fit for that broad range of interests with reviews and news on the latest laptops, VR games, and computer accessories along with coverage on everything from NFTs to cybersecurity and more.