Xbox Series S console increasingly seen as a next-gen hurdle for game developers as Control Ultimate Edition's boosts for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S are posted

[Redaktion]

The Xbox Series S console has been criticized by game developers due to its restrictive configuration. Memory and resolution limitations in comparison to the Xbox Series X have been highlighted, just as the next-gen enhancements for Control Ultimate Edition for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox consoles are posted online.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Xbox-Series-S-console-increasingly-seen-as-a-next-gen-hurdle-for-game-developers-as-Control-Ultimate-Edition-s-boosts-for-PS5-and-Xbox-Series-X-S-are-posted.517644.0.html

[Gamerguy7130]

As an Xbox Series S owner, I am very annoyed about not receiving all the next-gen enhancements. Microsoft's message was: "You'll have the same great next-gen experience." Hence, games would look similar for both Series S and X, but they would display in different resolutions. I am not having the same great experience when one version of the game supports ray tracing and the other does not! We're only at the beginning of this generation and Series S owners are dealing with these types of issues already.

[Kirill]

Difference in resolution is fine. It could be just a Full HD console. But RAM difference is a mistake, gives developers a headache!

[Anonym]

And yet, contrary to the narrative put forward by NBC, the Series S runs Cyberpunk just fine (the most demanding game so far) and the few truly next-gen games (not coss-gen with PS4 and Xbox One) such as The Medium also run just fine on the Series S.

I mean, it's very obvious the Series S is not as capable as the Series X (as intended), but so far there have been zero issues delivering a next-gen experience out of that budget and very compact Xbox.

[No]

As an Xbox Series S owner, I am very annoyed about not receiving all the next-gen enhancements. Microsoft's message was: "You'll have the same great next-gen experience." Hence, games would look similar for both Series S and X, but they would display in different resolutions. I am not having the same great experience when one version of the game supports ray tracing and the other does not! We're only at the beginning of this generation and Series S owners are dealing with these types of issues already.

Then maybe you should have bought a next-gen console. The series s is weaker than the last gen Xbox one x. One glance at the specs should have told you which console you should have bought and yet you went with the weak one and are now complaining that it's too weak. I also don't know how this is Microsoft's fault they straight up released the specs and told everybody that the series s is not as powerful as the series x. They said for a truly next gen experience you need the series x. If there's anyone to blame it's you for being too cheap to buy the real Xbox. Instead of releasing both a series s and x they should have released a series x with and without a disk drive. That would have made this console generation much simpler.

[Novartis]

This is a dumb complaint. These devs have to make this game work on PC systems as well and simply optimising for the lower settings will do the trick. If you expected the same performance with lower specs and cost, you were being delusional.

[Nicolas Silvagni]

This is not a fair complaint. Yes more sku is annoying (i am a graphic engineer and already shipped a ps5/xb4/ps4/xb3/pc title).

1440p to 2160p is a huge leap for your render target and texture sizes. Is it 6GB, less or more, it is a complicated question when you involve streaming, especially with fast ssd !

And gameplay should never be the top contender by far on memory occupancy, or they have to go back to the drawing board !

[J w]

This is an old argument which was disproven. The memory problems goes away with optimisation.

[Kkk]

The Series S has enough memory. The thing is, devs are not using the features the consoles provide right now, as they still develop with the old generation in mind. Xbox Series consoles and DX12U GPUs have Sampler Feedback Streaming which dramatically increases effective VRAM as textures can load more efficiently, but it requires some dev work to be implemented. It's logical to believe the Series S will only show its true potential once all of its innovative hardware features are being used, which is not the case right now

[Luciano]

This article is full of none sense. Lazy developers using Outdated tools don't want to work hard to earn their money and are blaming hardware. Freaking PC Games have been developed and optimised for thousands of GPUs and Configurations for decades why can't they do that now on Consoles when Microsoft has pretty unified the architectures. They to stop blaming hardware for their poor work. CDPR has has had a good share of this bulshit and now they are paying a high price.

[Face76]

I found it funny people keep saying that this isn't true and memory problems will go away with optimization.  But the thing is first Control is a last gen game.  No matter what they do to get the game running on the ps5/XSX is still not as good as having the game being made for the ps5/XSX.   The problem is once games start to get big areas, more details, and whatever they will start to utilize the ps5/XSX specs.  The XSS will fall behind.  It has already.  Yes optimization will help somewhat.   Later down the line, say within a year, the XSS will be slowly fazed out.  The production on the XSS has already slowed down.  As Spencer said that the only thing going against it would be if Sony went with 2 skus.  Many were against the XSS in MS but Spencer pushed for it.  But it's a 1.5 X1X.   It's why the X1X was discontinued so fast.  Devs have said it's already lagging behind.  The XSS isn't worth the money.  Period.  The specs and ssd space make it obsolete already.  Ps5 digital is $100 more and you get a true next gen console.   Because between the XSS and the ssd expansion you are paying more then the price of the XSX or ps5

[Noob11]

Claiming that XSS is behind because of lazy developers is funny argument, If the only problem was optimization, then why lunch new consoles, lets better optimize games...

[Anonym]

I found it funny people keep saying that this isn't true and memory problems will go away with optimization.  But the thing is first Control is a last gen game.  No matter what they do to get the game running on the ps5/XSX is still not as good as having the game being made for the ps5/XSX. The problem is once games start to get big areas, more details, and whatever they will start to utilize the ps5/XSX specs.

And yet the most demanding game to this date (Cyberpunk) runs just fine on XSS. I know it's a last-gen/cross-gen game. For a truly next-gen game built from the ground up you have "The Medium", also quite demanding due to its dual port view of both worlds, still it runs just fine on XSS.

The fearmongering only works until people get to see the games working just fine. A surprise to none, given all the hardware accelerated compression is there, so next-gen games can only get better since those are the ones that will take full advantage of the new compression techniques.

An no, the One X cannot run either game anywhere nearly as good as the XSS. Textures are only one side of the equation, XSS is just fine for its performance targets.

[Davidgabrieltaylor1077]

They've been scaling  games for Nintendo Switch for years now with much success and no complaints. Switch even has it's own overwatch game and an exclusive new full MH game on the way. So... what's all this about xss?

[Anony]

Remember this comes from a developer that said they couldn't give you a free update for next gen consoles if you already owned the game. Even though this is PC game, where you can run it in 5 year old hardware.

XSS uses DirectX 12 ultimate, there's no real argument here to be made just a lazy developer and poorly written article.