Indie Game Developer Offers His Thoughts About the Upcoming Xbox Series S

Ever since Microsoft revealed that they would be launching a new next generation console alongside their Series X, players have been anticipating this budget console. The Series S is Microsoft's smallest console, has specs almost identical to those of the Series X, and will only cost $299 when it releases on November 10. 

As many fans know, Microsoft had to make some significant sacrifices while creating the Series S in order to make it more affordable than their headline console. Although the two consoles have similar processing and performance ratings, players have been focusing on the differences between these two consoles as of late. 

This has led to many asking the question: Will developers find it difficult to "downgrade" a game optimized for the Series X so that it is playable on the Series S? However, the main differences between these two consoles are best seen in the resolution, rather than pure performance. 

Gavin Stevens, a developer from the Indie studio Team Blur Games believes that there shouldn't be any difficulty, and he explained his reasoning in detail via Twitter on September 10. Although he has not received any dev kits from Microsoft for either of their upcoming consoles, he made some pretty interesting claims.

Firstly, Stevens stated that "[Series S] likely won't even use most of its power, as maxing out all 8 cores at full speed is a rarity." He continued by breaking down the Series S' GPU, ultimately revealing that this console, although slower than the Series X, would be able to keep up with next generation consoles, as the Series S does not have to process 4K visuals.

The Series S does have a smaller and therefore slower RAM, though the lack of 4K optimization would result in a "massive drop" in VRAM utilization. Even though the Series S has significantly less memory than the Series X, it is a console designed to introduce new players to the gaming world, and to welcome new members of the Xbox family.

Despite this lower resolution and storage space, Stevens is confident about the console's performance. "So as a final answer to the question, is the Series S going to hold back game design or graphics for ANY next gen system? No, not in the slightest. Jason Ronald from Xbox already said it best: 'games are made for Xbox Series X, then scaled down resolution to Xbox Series S.'"

Because of the Series S' affordable price, players will be able to test out the next generation of gaming, even if they do not have $499 to drop on a Series X. Additionally, many would be able to purchase both a Series S and PlayStation 5, getting the best of both worlds for those with the expendable income. 

Especially considering that the PlayStation 5 has yet to reveal a release date, price or pre-orders, the Series S is the perfect opportunity for all gamers to get a taste of the future of gaming before siding with Microsoft or Sony until their inevitable next consoles.

Kieran Mouritsen
Editor, NoobFeed