Microsoft finally unveiled their Xbox Series S earlier this week (or maybe it’s more accurate to say they had the system revealed for them), and it sent out quite the waves. The system will offer a relatively cheap entry point into next generation gaming with lower end specs than its big brother, the Xbox Series X. But there was some degree of concern shown from some within the developer community especially about the system’s RAM, which is decidedly on the lower end. You can read about that through here. However, it’s worth noting not all of it was negative, as some devs just saw it as meaning a little extra work, and that’s nothing new.
Taking to their Twitters, several noted names gave their opinion on the box. Probably the most positive voice was Game Director Robert Bowling who said he didn’t agree with the concerns of ‘bottlenecking’ and that having to optimize games for various SKUs was nothing new. It’s obviously a thing with PC, but he said devs are already having to do this with current systems and their midgen refreshes. While a little less positive than him, Remedy Entertainment’s Communications Thomas Puha and Flavorworks Creative Director Jack Attridge gave similar statements, saying it’s all about making choices about what to prioritize and perhaps needing extra time, though also stated it’s nothing particularly new.
It wasn’t all sunshine, though, as Dan Weiss of Squanch Games went on a long form tirade against the system, clearly not a fan. But even he concluded that he didn’t think the issue would necessarily be a major one for third parties, and the biggest causalities would be first party titles or those developers who focus solely on Xbox, as they will be stuck to that baseline. We’ll have select entries from Weiss’ Twitter below and you can check on the link for the full thing as there’s lots of colorful language. It’s worth the read as he does describe his points well.
It seems there’s quite the range of emotions about Microsoft’s latest box here. As always, it’ll be interesting to see where it falls, because as of now it’s all theoretical until games are being designed and start coming out. The Xbox Series S will launch alongside the Xbox Series X on November 10th.
I don't share that sentiment. Unless you're platform exclusive, normally you always have to account for users on different specs.
We've been dealing with this same type of difference in the current gen of consoles. So it's not exactly a new consideration that has to be made imo.
— Robert Bowling (@fourzerotwo) September 9, 2020
Though, games that are CPU bound, thats good, GPU…not so good. Nothing new. Choices and choices. I got both next-gen consoles pre-ordered and cant wait for them to arrive!
— Thomas Puha (@RiotRMD) September 9, 2020
Not really, it's more that it's just extra time and cost to optimise for a lower spec. Encourages you to de-scope a bit.
— Jack Attridge (@JacksFlavour) September 10, 2020
Let's start with the CPU. It's lower clocked, and ya it's not much, but it's not zero. Make all the claims in the world about the box being aimed at lower resolution, but that doesn't exactly fly for CPU. You're going to have things like game code on CPU on its own thread.
— Dan Weiss (@schenksmill) September 10, 2020
Then you have the upper tier Xbox, where it maybe runs a bit better, or maybe runs at 4k native instead of 4k checkerboard, or maybe you turn on one or two fancy bells and whistles that nobody ever notices.
— Dan Weiss (@schenksmill) September 10, 2020
However, 1st party? Especially with MS's bullshit about supporting XB1 for a while? Microsoft's 1P spec is now a weaker spec than Sony's 1P target spec, and Sony has free reign to push that shit for the next 5+ years.
— Dan Weiss (@schenksmill) September 10, 2020
