The hottest time to drop a video game rumor is right before new consoles arrive. There’s still so much players don’t know about the new systems coming down the pike. Where information is lacking, rumors fill the space. And when rumors can’t be immediately dismissed, they become a bit more believable. Such is the story of the Xbox Series V.
If you’ve never heard of the Series V, no one can blame you. News of it — or rumors, rather — came quickly in the fall of 2020 and disappeared with an equal amount of haste. If you need a bit of a refresher, here’s the scoop on what all went down with this third next-gen Xbox console. Maybe you’ll actually play it someday, if it does indeed exist. Right now, though? Nah.
Xbox Series V was thought to be an all-digital variant of the Series X at one point
Imagine a Xbox console that has Series X power but lacks the Blu-Ray drive. That’s exactly what the Xbox Series V was rumored to be back in September 2020.
A leaked or doctored image (as published by GamesRadar) showed a thinner black tower sitting in between the Series X and Series S in the lineup. This had some certain that Microsoft was ready to play a three-console hand.
Because we live in the future, we know this didn’t happen. Instead, Microsoft went to market with the Series X and the Series S — both of which are almost impossible to find these days thanks to shortages plaguing all next-gen consoles.
Perhaps if Microsoft had made an Xbox Series V, matters would be even worse. Maybe we should be glad this third next-gen Xbox didn’t see the light of day.
Then it became a fan-made Xbox handheld
Because some rumors never die, the Xbox Series V wasn’t about to go away quietly. In October 2020, some clever fan — probably looking to stir the pot via use of the name — decided to mock up an entirely new take on the console. This time, the Series V was a portable.
The internet is quick to believe what it wants and slow to correct the record, so some out there believed Microsoft was indeed working on an Xbox handheld (which we’d love to see, by the way). Sadly, it wasn’t, or at least didn’t have one ready in 2020 or 2021. The Series V portable never released.
We’ve yet to see a Series V anywhere
We’re now at the finale of 2021 and there’s been no official mention of the Xbox Series V from Microsoft, nor have there been any rumors about such a machine since. Maybe we can finally put this particular tall tale to rest and move on with our lives.
Then again, we did have a whole console shortage thing happening throughout the tail end of 2020 and through all of 2021. So maybe Microsoft was planning to release a Series V but, due to supply issues, never got around to it. Hmm…
