Xbox Series S/X: Thread 05

[nonny]

It's interesting too because it suggests that if rumours end up being true and Sony releases a PS5 Pro, it will mean that consumers will be eating one hell of RRP for it and the results won't justify the price tag. It's something compounded as well by the fact that whilst the Series S might have its issues, it's not like many PS5 games have side stepped the PS4 either. When it comes to next-gen it seems like MS might need to aim for a slightly higher RRP on the next Series S and use it to ensure there's a smoother allignment between the S2 and X2.

Dropping split screen is a dangerous move. Though I fully understand why they're doing it.

If the Series S had 16gb of memory instead of 10 this probably wouldn't be an issue but there you go.

There's strong rumours the Series S exists not only to serve as a base spec but to eventually be the spec they use in a handheld.

Pinch of salt of course but it's not out of the question of MS decided to venture down that route.

[Neon Ignition]

Things are going to get interesting when the Series S has to deal with late this gen

[Finsbury Girl]

Series S is now a massive albatross around Xbox's head. Not sure how they are going to get out of this as Phil continues to defend it.

[Neon Ignition]

He also said that Turn10 left split screen out of Forza 8 because they have stats that show so few people use it that it wasn't worth dedicating time on andc after this I'm pretty convinced that's BS and they skipped it to avoid this same problem

[Yakumo]

In all honesty I think that the series S should go without features rather than delaying or pulling down the Series X version.
I see it as a Master System and Mega Drive situation. Many of the same games were on both formats. Those who wanted the full fat experience bought the Mega Drive, while those less fortunate or not really bothered went with the Master System.

[hudson]

I agree, I can live without couch co-op, for example.

[Neon Ignition]

I wonder if they'll bother with a Series S next gen at all.

At face value the idea of a cheaper entry level model makes complete sense but then when you take a step back and look at the sustained RRP the Switch has been sold at for all these years, as well as the insane figures the PS5 and its unduly overpriced eco-system is pitched at and reflect on where Xbox is at it doesn't add up. It instead suggests that Series S has either eroded what would have been Series X sales or at best Series S has stemmed some of the bloodloss. If they sort out the software pipeline (which actually seems to be inbound now) I'm not sure there's much reason to make a Series S. With the software line up behind it people will clearly happily pay £450 instead because they're doing so right now for a competing console with a drying up first party line up simply because its brand is in a better shape.

[fishbowlhead]

While the SeriesS has done well for MS, it has also held the SeriesX back technically when MS should be forging ahead with SeriesX exclusives.

However, those SeriesX sales figures on their own? Sheesh, grim reading for MS, SeriesS is propping their console business up.

[nonny]

I think a cheaper SKU is a sound tactic to attract different levels of consumer but I think the Series S should have had the same amount of RAM as the X as it's been the limitation that has caused developers the most issue. It would have increased cost initially which is obviously an important factor here, but I think the way costs overall have dropped on the Series S it would have been the right move.

I will say this though. I love my Series S for what it is. It's so small, silent, transportable and generally the quality of games available on it are great. I've basically no complaints from a value perspective this far into ownership.

I can't predict the future or whether it's going to have difficulty keeping up. Maybe tech like the FSR3 stuff AMD showed gets put to good use. Maybe developers get savvy with the RDNA2 features to squeeze the most out of that memory or perhaps it's not enough and they start to sacrifice more things to get stuff to work.

Either way this is MS problem to fix and support. On that note I see overnight they've stated split screen is still being investigated and isn't just cancelled outright.

[hudson]

Is there any footage out there of Starfield on Series S?

[nonny]

Dunno but Tod Howard said in an interview earlier that he was playing it almost entirely on the S.

[hudson]

Awesome news.

[Neon Ignition]

DF breaks down Immortals of Aveum's UE5 gameplay which proves how easily compromises return

[Brad]

Whilst many would be fine getting, for example, BG3 earlier and without split screen on series S, the American way is a class action lawsuit against Microsoft for not sticking to what they said about parity.

[Deuteros]

Games must be released for both consoles but feature parity isn't mandatory.

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.

https://www.eurogamer.net/the-definitive-xbox-gamescom-interview