Xbox Series S under criticism: brakes on game development?

On October 24, 2022By Garmin Philip

“Potato” console

Microsoft’s Xbox Series S console has been criticized. Developer studios are tired of being forced to develop for the weaker next-gen console.

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Currently increasing Criticism of the Xbox Series S according to Microsoft’s cheaper and slightly less powerful next-gen console – but not from the players’ side, but from the developer studios themselves.

They criticize Microsoft’s rule that when developing video games, the Series S must also be used, not just the Series X. Since the latter has a clear performance advantage over its smaller sister console, some feel this is the case strong limitation.

Not only do games have to be additionally optimized for the technical possibilities of the Series S. Apparently, scarce resources during development also ensure that the quality of games suffers from being dragged along by the weaker console.

Developers want separation of Series X and S

Among other things, Lee Devonald, who works at the Rocksteady development studio, is said to describe the Series S as “Potato“. It is said to “paralyze” the development of an entire generation of games and severely restrict the planning of budgets and game optimization.

Hence support financially many studios that develop games for Microsoft have probably had one for some time Separation between Xbox Series X and S. In this case, each development team would decide for itself whether to develop primarily for the Series X or to include the Series S. Theoretically, subsequent optimization in the form of performance modes or patches would still be possible.

However, it is questionable whether this is ultimately an advantage or disadvantage for the players. While some games might run better on all other platforms without the Series S limitations, delivering true next-gen performance and graphics. But the advantage of the Series S has always been that it more available than any other next-gen console was and could still offer all important game releases.

This alone made it possible for Microsoft to temporarily surpass the sales figures for the Playstation 5, which is still poorly available. However, if no more important games were released for the Series S, the attractiveness of the console would drop sharply.

Although Sony also offers a cheaper version of their next-gen console with a “Digital Edition”, this does not have any limitations in performance apart from the missing drive. For the Entry into console gaming So the Xbox Series S in particular is currently best suited – even if it seems to be a thorn in the side of the developers.