Microsoft’s Xbox Series S was a notable success, offering gamers a next-generation console at an affordable price at a time when finding a Xbox Series X supply was a nightmare. But now the compact console could hold back Xbox games.
As VGC pointed out (opens in a new tab), there was an entire speech on Twitter claiming that Microsoft’s requirement for game developers to ensure their titles are optimized for the S series and beyond. for the Xbox X series, it hinders the potential performance of those games. So much so that VFX artist Ian Maclure tweeted (now behind a blocked account) that the requirement to develop the S series is “an albatross in the neck of production”.
This was supported by Rocksteady Senior Character Technical Artist Lee Devonald, who in response to news that Gotham Knights will shoot at 30 frames per second and won’t have a performance mode for faster frame rates, he tweeted (and apparently later canceled. tweets) about the situation.
“I wish gamers would understand what 60fps means, in terms of all the things they * lose * to get the game running so fast.” Devonald said (hat to player (opens in new tab)). “Especially taking into account the fact that we have a current generation console that isn’t much better than a last generation one.”
This latter comment is particularly noteworthy as the S Series isn’t as powerful as the previous Xbox One X in terms of raw performance; the former offers four teraflops of graphics power compared to the latter’s six teraflops. But the Xbox Series S uses a more advanced chip architecture so that it can close some of the gap. But it tends to aim for 1440p resolution games, while the One X pursues 4K improvements.
Devonald said the need to tweak the less powerful Series S graphics processors, compared to the Series X with its 20 teraflop performance, means “a whole generation of games, hampered by that potato.”
There is now an argument that all new Xbox games need to arrive on PC, so developers shouldn’t have a problem optimizing games for dissimilar hardware. But there are a few things to consider here.
The minimum spec requirements for a PC game may be higher than the S Series. And in general, gaming even on a low-end PC or older will see players have more power to carry on.
Also, one of the joys / challenges of PC gaming is optimizing a game to suit their hardware, which means gamers have a bit more of a burden if they want to compromise on frame rates for higher graphics fidelity or vice versa.
And when it comes to PC gaming, there’s a lot more power to devote to the problem. It’s very likely that a $ 1,000 PC will have more processing and graphics power than a Series X, but it’s likely not as optimized.
As such, I can understand why developers building for the S Series, rather than focusing solely on the X Series, would see it as a pain and something holding back true next-gen games.
I’ve already started hearing that in a number of games I use on the latest consoles. What used to be the promise of 4K 60fps gaming now feels more like a choice between dynamic resolution and lower graphics fidelity for higher frame rates or more threatening 30fps games with a resolution reaching or at least approaching 4K.
I don’t want to have to choose between performance modes when playing on consoles, as it starts to feel more like a PC thing. I just want to lie down on my couch and play a game as the developer intended it. And while this choice of performance over graphics affects the PS5 as well, I am concerned that as the current generation Xbox consoles mature, the S Series may really hold onto the X Series.
As much as I think having a cheap console to help gamers embrace the current generation was a good move on Microsoft’s part, perhaps the time has come to see it as a stop gap we can step away from as it is now easier to buy. a Series X. And perhaps my esteemed colleague Rory Mellon was, and is right, in saying that you shouldn’t buy the Xbox Series S.
