Microsoft has waited a long time to reveal pricing, release date, and pre-order information for the Xbox Series X, but the wait is over. The console will cost $500, will be available on November 10, can be financed with Xbox All Access for $35 per month, and can be pre-ordered starting September 22.

The information comes from the official Xbox Series X website, with a note from Phil Spencer, who heads Microsoft's Xbox division. In addition to revealing the system's price, release date, and pre-order start date, Spencer reiterates the Xbox Series X's processor, GPU, SSD, and other hardware, as well as other important features that make it far superior to the Xbox One.

An interesting aspect of this announcement is the company's commitment to offer the Xbox Series X through the Xbox All Access program, a financing plan that allows customers to pay off their Xbox console in 24 months, an option that the Xbox One The Xbox One also has this option. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is also available for 24 months, although $35 per month is considerably higher than the Xbox One plan ($23 per month).

To purchase the Xbox Series X outright and use Game Pass Ultimate for 24 months costs $860. Of course, $20 for two years is not much of a discount, and if you default on even one month, you are in big trouble. But for those who can't afford a new console right away, it's a fair price.

The blog post also covers the main features of the Xbox Series X that we have been hearing about for some time. The console will support ray tracing, the SSD will load games very quickly, multiple games can be suspended and resumed quickly, and theoretically, frame rates of up to 120 frames per second can be obtained. As for games, there are backwards compatibility up to the original Xbox (including all Xbox One games), Smart Delivery for free upgrades of current game titles to next-generation games, and Xbox Game Pass, which supports first-party games on launch day. There is also information on GPU shading, chat latency, and HDMI innovations, but it is a bit weedy for the everyday gamer.

Now that we have all the pertinent information from Microsoft regarding the console's price and pre-orders, all we need is for Sony to follow suit and tell us the PS5's price and release date. That way, potential buyers will get the last piece of the puzzle before committing later this year.