While the Xbox Series S has always been a bit divisive, controversy over the machine, and whether its holding back current-gen development, has reached new heights. This has largely been spurred by Baldur’s Gate III, which is not launching on Xbox Series X/S because Larian Studios are having trouble splitscreen co-op working on the Series S. There is also increasing reports of Series-S-related grumbling among studios, as the reality of development is, you have to largely design multiplatform games around the limitations of the lowest spec hardware you’re releasing on.
Well, in a new interview with Xbox boss Phil Spencer, Eurogamer asked flat out whether Microsoft would consider dropping the requirement to release all Xbox titles on the Series S. Spencer made it clear, he doesn’t see that happening, but did seem to be willing to budge on the notion that Xbox Series X and S games need to have feature parity.
“I don't see a world where we drop S. In terms of parity, I don't think you've heard from us or Larian, that this was about parity. I think that's more that the community is talking about it. There are features that ship on X today that do not ship on S, even from our own games, like ray-tracing that works on X, it's not on S in certain games. So for an S customer, they spent roughly half what the X customer bought, they understand that it's not going to run the same way.
I want to make sure games are available on both, that's our job as a platform holder and we're committed to that with our partners. And I think we're gonna get there with Larian. So I'm not overly worried about that, but we've learned some stuff through it. Having an entry-level price point for console, sub-$300, is a good thing for the industry. I think it's important, the Switch has been able to do that, in terms of kind of the traditional plug-into-my-television consoles. I think it's important. So we're committed.”
Obviously, as Spencer mentions, Xbox Series X and S games already don’t have parity in terms of visual features, but I wonder if Microsoft would be willing to budge on gameplay features as well, potentially opening the door for more trimmed-down versions of games custom built for the S. Of course, the issue with Baldur's Gate III is that they don't want to compromise on features like splitscreen.
Interestingly, Spencer also touched on a reason why the Xbox Series S isn’t going anywhere – changes in the tech industry console makers can't expect manufacturing costs to reduce over time. In Spencer's own words, "prices aren't coming down." The Xbox Series X is probably never going to cost less than $300, and Spencer feels an entry-price console is important, so the Series S will remain.
Still, one wonders if Microsoft won’t bend eventually. According to VG247 editor Alex Donaldson, one of the most common things he’s heard from developers at Gamescom is how much they dislike the Series S. At a certain point, a platform holder has to listen to those making games for them or... those folks are going to stop making games for them.
The absolute most common thing this Gamescom has been devs off the record absolutely slating the Series S. It's a great value little machine but developers despise it man
— Alex Donaldson (@APZonerunner) August 24, 2023
Xbox needs to think hard and fast about the policies around making sure stuff runs on both machines, whatever they are, and consider the possibility of Series X exclusive features - or even games.
— Alex Donaldson (@APZonerunner) August 24, 2023
What do you think? Is the Series S here to stay? Or does something have to change eventually?
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