Introducing the Xbox Series X, Microsoft's newest games console

Microsoft has showed off its new game console, the Xbox Series X, for the first time.

The company confirmed the machine will go on sale in the 2020 holiday period, setting up a clash with Sony’s PlayStation 5 console, scheduled to be released at the same time.

The US company’s new console boasts an unusual monolithic shape, though it comes with a familiar controller design. A price for the new machine has yet to be announced. Microsoft had previously said that the new console would be four times more powerful than the current generation Xbox One X.

Sony has yet to show details of the PlayStation 5 beyond the name and release period. The PlayStation 4 has been the clear winner in the current round of console wars, outselling Xbox by about more than two to one - but the launch of new machines gives Microsoft an opportunity to reclaim that edge.

“The Xbox Series X is shaping up to possibly give Microsoft the crown of most powerful console ever made again, as it did with the Xbox One X,” said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Matthew Kanterman. “A stronger showing for Microsoft and continued strong performance from Sony should lead cumulative ninth-generation console sales to eclipse the eighth-generation by about 20 per cent in our view.”