The Xbox Series X will cost you R11,999 and will be available from 10 November

The end of the road is looming for both Sony and Microsoft and the race is still hotly contested. With both the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X launches looming in the distance, growing closer by the day, both companies are doing their the best to pitch their console as the one consumers should choose. In an ideal world, we wouldn’t have to choose as both consoles hold intrinsic value of their own and believing in some kind of “Console War” is just feeding into corporate propaganda to create impassioned and dedicated fanbases so don’t believe their lies, whoever they are.

Yet it’s the unfortunate fact of the matter that most people will have to choose between one of the next-gen consoles. Due to all the nonsense going on in the world and our ever-tanking currency, most people can’t afford both a PS5 and a Series X. At this point in time, we can only really help you make an informed financial decision on only one of those consoles. Sony has been very tight-lipped when it comes to pricing on the PS5 but, thanks to a series of (possibly planned) leaks, the Series X had its price leaked this week and, better yet, we know how much it’ll cost locally.

Xbox South Africa was quick to confirm that the price of the Xbox Series S was R7,000 earlier this week and just a few days after that confirmed that beefier Series X will come in at R12,000. Now that extra R5,000 does net you a much more powerful version of the console but I have to think more people would be keen to settle for the more affordable option. Oh, and both the Series X and S will be launching on 10 November.

It’ll be tough for Sony to best those prices because, quite frankly, they’re better than we were expecting and given Sony’s track record of pricing in the past the PlayStation 5 will probably be a little more expensive. Sony could be an absolute mad lad and come in at a lower price just to undercut Microsoft to dominate the Christmas market but given the specs on the console, the odds of that seem optimistic at best.