2020, Video game console
WISE Score
The smaller, cheaper Xbox: no disc drive, the same games as the Series X, and the best parental-control app of the three big consoles.
The Series S plays every current Xbox game the bigger Series X plays, at lower resolution, with no disc drive. For a kid in the 8 to 13 range who wants to play what their friends play, it is the easiest console to manage from a phone.
The catch is cost. After three price increases it is $499.99, and the reason to own one is Game Pass, which is a monthly bill on top.
A good first console from about 8, if a parent sets up Family Settings before it is unboxed. For 5 to 7, a Nintendo Switch has more games built for that age. By 11 to 13, when online play with school friends matters most, the Series S and its controls fit well.
The console carries whatever you let onto it, from Minecraft and LEGO games to M-rated shooters. Game Pass puts both kinds a click apart, so content filters do the sorting.
Game Pass makes it cheap to try building games, puzzle games and small indie games a kid would never have bought at $70.
Xbox Family Settings is one of the strongest console control sets: per-day screen time, content filters, purchase approval and friend-request approval from a parent's phone.
Some of the best creative and problem-solving games live here, but the library leans toward action, and the subscription rewards sampling over finishing.
The Xbox Series S is the small white box that launched next to the Series X in November 2020. It has no disc drive and less graphics power, and it plays the same current Xbox games as its bigger sibling. Microsoft targets 1440p at up to 120 frames per second, against 4K on the Series X. On a bedroom TV most kids will not notice the difference.
The Series S: no disc drive, about the size of a large hardback book.
It launched at $299. After three increases, the latest on August 1, 2026, it is $499.99 with 512GB and $599.99 with 1TB in the US. Microsoft blamed memory and storage costs. That price buys the console, one controller and an HDMI cable, and nothing to play yet.
Xbox Game Pass is a monthly subscription to a rotating library: Essential is $9.99 a month for 50-plus games and online multiplayer, Premium is $14.99 for 200-plus, and Ultimate is $22.99 with new Xbox-published games on release day. For a kid who wants to try a dozen games a year, that beats buying them one at a time at $70. The Xbox Game Pass page has the details.
Two things to know. Online multiplayer in paid games needs at least Essential, and the library mixes Minecraft and Forza Horizon 5 with M-rated shooters in one menu.
The 512GB model leaves about 364GB for games once the system takes its share, and big games run 50 to 150GB each. A kid with three large games installed is already deleting one to add another. The 1TB model or an expansion card fixes it; plan for one if your kid plays big titles.
In the box: the console, one controller, an HDMI cable, a power cable and two AA batteries.
The free Xbox Family Settings app is the strongest phone app of the big three consoles. From your phone you can set screen-time windows for each day of the week, pause play on the spot, filter games by age rating, approve friend requests and see a weekly activity report. Purchase approval runs through your Microsoft family account. Do it before your kid signs in for the first time, when there is nothing to take away yet.
For a kid under 8, a Nintendo Switch has more games made for that age. For a kid who wants the same games in 4K, or who wants to buy discs, look at the Xbox Series X. For a kid whose friends are all on PlayStation, the PlayStation 5 matters more than any spec, because most kids play with whoever is on the same console.
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