Xbox Series S isn’t holding next-gen back, reality is
249,734
Published 2022-10-27
If anything, if the Series S was responsible for reducing the overall complexity of next-gen games compared to what they could achieve were it not a factor, then the big boy machines – it stands to reason – would have plenty of headroom left over for performance boosts. But that’s not what’s happening.
It certainly isn’t happening in the case of Gotham Knights, which kicked off this whole ridiculous mini-controversy by launching without any performance modes despite being next-gen exclusive. This is due, we’re told, to the complexity of the game… which was originally slated for PS4 and Xbox One, but those versions were cancelled, and the game we got feels decidedly last gen and can barely maintain a stable framerate regardless. Go figure.
The Series S is a next-gen machine in all the ways that count: specifically, its super-fast NVME storage and robust CPU, both of which are basically identical to its bigger brother, and on a par with the PS5 in terms of raw numbers. It has a less impressive GPU and not as much RAM, but this is a compromise aimed at getting the price as low as possible with the concession that this machine is intended to be used with last-generation television screens and 1440p monitors. It’s not supposed to compete with premium consoles and three-grand PCs, it’s supposed to be cheap, cheerful, and “good enough” for your average user. Which it is.
It also represents a significant step up in terms of the base spec of gaming hardware that people tend to have in their homes, namely the base PS4, a workhorse machine which is still going strong due to various factors (as explored in the above video) but is hamstrung by a slow HDD and a lacklustre CPU: both of these are drag factors with the next gen machines, including the Series S, are design to negate.
With millions of users still, for whatever reason, unable or unwilling to upgrade from the last-gen machine or low spec PC they’re currently rocking (not to mention machines like the Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck), it seems churlish to blame the Series S for dragging down the minimum spec that studios have to cater for when, if anything, it would appear to be pushing up the average.
Some developers feel all the same that Microsoft’s requirement to support the Series S with every Xbox release – preventing them from splitting the userbase – is cramping their style. But if they’re that determined to artificially cut their market in half, there’s nothing stopping them from making their games exclusive to other platforms.
That’s capitalism, baby. The freedom to choose!
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#SeriesS #Potato #30fps
All Comments (21)
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The global economy never recovered from 2008, and shows exactly zero sign of ever doing so in the future, not when the biggest long term drags on economic activity are inequality & climate change, and the biggest economies only ideas for fixing things are austerity (making poor people poorer), tax cuts (making rich people richer), and fossil fuel subsidies (pumping co2 into the armosphere even faster). I'd say things are going to get worse before they get better, but that would be a lie. The truth is things are going to get worse and then keep right on getting worse for as long as anyone alive today will live, and probably for a dozen or so generations after. The mainstream gaming industry absolutely needs to start reorienting towards a future where they have to compete on price more than power. As such, the series s is a much more realistic vision of the future than the series x or ps5, let alone multi-thousand dollar gaming pcs or vr sets.
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The part that continues to be missed is over half of the market DOES NOT have a 4K display. So 60% of the people that could play a game are only playing on a 1080p TV at best! The Series S is completely fine for the majority of the market.
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Digital Foundry did some digging and figured that the Gotham Knights engine is not optimized to run well on multi-threaded CPU's and the CPU is the bottleneck for this game not GPU, in other words, the problem is the devs not Series S :)
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Their failure to take accountability and fix their shitty game is really astonishing. The 4090 struggled with this game too 🤦♂️
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there is no where on this planet other than series s where you can get 1440p or 120 fps for under $300. Price to performance ratio is absolutely insane.
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Yes! Finally someone who tells it like it is. Some developers are simply using the perfectly adequate Series S as a scapegoat for their own lack of skill and talent. Subbed.
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Well said. The only people who say the Series S is "holding back" the current generation are either, A. incompetent devs, or B. people who know nothing about game development.
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It was only 2 Devs who said the series s is holding back gaming and they were small indie game developers but besides that big developers haven’t complained about the Series S
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Well said. £240 and an old 1080 monitor as entry to next gen? Yes please!
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I love my Series S. I dont think it's holding anything back. It's been playing all the next gen games perfectly
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So......... those that keep saying Series S is a potato, what about the huuuuuge spectrum of PC specs devs have to account for when making games? What is the difference with optimising the Series S/X?
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if the series s was holding it back to be able to run games on it. wouldn't that mean PS5 and series x would run these games easily? at higher frame rates? logically it holding back current gen doesn't make sense
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"A bad workman always blames his tools"
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If anything, I’m glad the Series S is forcing devs to not outright abandon lower end specs. Helpful for those who haven’t upgraded their PCs in a while.
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As someone that games primarily on PC and hasn't owned a console since the PS3 i can wholeheartedly say that the series S is an amazing machine for price and I've recommend it to friends and family that didn't require a full PC experience.
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Another question... If the Series S was really holding back, it means that they should be targeting the game to the less powerful hardware. So... why the powerful consoles aren't running at 60fps at all? If its cut back to run at 30fps on S, it should be flying on X. It just doesn't make sense to me!
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It's so funny that developers say it is holding back, but somebody who only knows how to push buttons on a controller argues with them.
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I've owned both the series s and x and I honestly can tell the difference between the two is when I ditch the big screen tv for my gaming monitor . Games look better on the series x due to the resolution upgrade but it's not a significant difference.
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Mate, I was screaming and cheering like a man United fan as you made the case for the series S. Anybody who owns the thing can attest that it runs anything thrown at it quite well. I mean the Callisto protocol is releasing on it. Thank you for this vid you earned a subscription. Cheers bruv!
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I love my series s. It is very affordable and suits my needs very well. I’m not a big graphics guy so I don’t really care if it can’t get 4k 60 frames. I play Elden Ring and get a very smooth framerate and it still looks beautiful even on the slightly lower resolution. I can fast travel across map in Elden Ring in a matter of seconds, literally like 5 seconds, it is quite impressive and I love it.
