Xbox Series S Won't be Holding Back the Next-Generation, According to Developer - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 October 2020 / 4,069 Views
After being rumored for around two years Microsoft finally announced its entry-level next-generation console, the Xbox Series S. It will launch alongside the premium-level next-generation console, the Xbox Series X, on November 10. It will retail at $200 lower than the premium console.
The lower specs of the Xbox Series S have worried some people the console would be holding back the next-generation of consoles in terms of visuals and game design. However, Co-owner and design lead at Team Blur Games Gavin Stevens via Twitter said this is not the case.
"Is the Series S going to hold back next-gen gaming?" asked Stevens before diving into why it isn't. "No, it’s not, and anybody with even a little experience will tell you as such. I’ll go into more detail below as to why that is, but the most important aspect is that this is NOT a last-gen console, I can’t stress that enough.
"If we were comparing this to an Xbox One S/Xbox One X, there would be issues of course. While you CAN make a product work on both new and old generation systems, it would require a lot more work and also limits what you can do from a gameplay standpoint a bit more."
"The CPU is listed as the same 8-core Zen 2 running at 3.6Ghz (3.4Ghz when you enable simultaneous multithreading)," he added. "For comparison, the XSX is running at 3.8Ghz/3.6GhzSMT. In the scheme of things, a 0.2Ghz drop is hardly anything to worry about.
"The slight drop in perf could be made up in other ways. For example, with a drop in [resolution], you also will likely drop your distance-based LOD, and this can include reducing physics calculations for foliage or objects too. There are a fair few ways to make this drop redundant.
"But in all honesty, CPU is usually second place to GPU in the power tug of war for any system. It’s likely that the system won’t even use most of its CPU power, as maxing out all 8 cores at full speed is a rarity. But, that’s a per-game basis.
"Next up is GPU, and this is likely the real confusing part of the whole system for a lot of people. I keep reading 'it’s slower than the One X,' and it drives me crazy, but it’s an understandable conclusion to make if you don’t understand the technology."
"Whatever the [Xbox Series X] can do, the [Xbox Series S] can do as well," said Stevens. "But what about the speed? Well, the Xbox Series S] is running with just 20CUs active, at a slower clock. Surely it can’t compete? Well, actually… Yes, it can. The [Xbox Series S] is targeting a vastly smaller resolution for one, around 1080p/1440p.
"One thing people never seem to understand is that the performance cost ALONE of drawing 4k is absolutely massive. For an example, the 6tf of GPU power in the original [Xbox One X] was needed to essentially lift titles into 4k from around 1080p on the 1.2tf original [Xbox One S].
"Yes, 4k rendering is expensive. It comes with a lot of trade-offs for decent [performance] and rarely do we get games on the current generation that are 4k/60. It’s a mammoth task in terms of raw GPU power and the games that push this are usually graphically simple in rendering."
"But a game that is targeting much lower resolution? Do the math. It requires MUCH less GPU power devoted to resolution alone. Of course rendering at a lower resolution will also mean other visual effects are cheaper to render, too."
Stevens goes into a lot of detail into why the Xbox Series S won't be holding back the next-generation of consoles. He does add it is possible ray tracing on games in the future will either have to tone it down on the Xbox Series S or be turned off completely. However, he sees games being developed for the Xbox Series X first, then the quality (resolution, framerate, and possibly more) getting lowered for the Xbox Series S.
SPOILER: No. No it’s not, and anybody with even a little experience will tell you as such. I’ll go into more detail below as to why that is, but the most important aspect is that this is NOT a last gen console, I can’t stress that enough. 2/41 pic.twitter.com/PgI8g89JKN
— 𝙂𝘼𝙑𝙄𝙉 𝙎𝙏𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙉𝙎 (@Gavavva) September 10, 2020
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. @jronald from xbox already said it best: “games are made for XSX, then scaled down resolution to XSS”. 40/41
— 𝙂𝘼𝙑𝙄𝙉 𝙎𝙏𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙉𝙎 (@Gavavva) September 10, 2020
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Be no different to how games work on PC. 2070 doesn't hold back a 2080Ti.
So pretty much what I've been saying, it will be similar to Switch's portable mode vs its docked mode
Happy that Microsoft is giving consumers options and glad the Series S will not hold back 9th gen too much. Microsoft was very smart to make their games development have easy scalability for developers :).
It might be very similar CPUs, but isn't the Series S considerably less powerful?
What about the ram that's need for specific game design elements other than textures. Split memory is a bad design and devs are already voicing their concerns. And it;s more than just dropping down resolution. Wha tabout other gpu tasks that may be used for other purposes on series x, such as for cpu tasks related instead.. The issue going forward is having to ensure what you design for series x can also work on series s. I'm sure most games will be ok, and multiplats, but for ambitious game designers who want to push the series x to it's limits might find an issue with having to workaround the series s.
@KratosLives The CPU in the Series S is the same in the Series X so technically the CPU in the S is more powerful than whats in the PS5. If games are too demanding on the X than the Series S will just accommodate with less effects and resolution, maybe even take a FPS hit in extreme cases.
@shika
I really appreciate your comment on this. Thank you.
The only thing that concerns me about the Series S is less memory. I am no expert but that generally means textures will take a hit first. For example, I believe Switch ports often have muddy textures because there is less RAM to work with.
The problem is that other AAA developers have said the opposite which beg the question. Who should I trust? Just time will tell
@method - Its possible tweaking graphics settings could be an easy solution for memory heavy games. Textures alone can take multiple GBs.
@Mr Puggsly - I agree it sounds like an easy solution. The problem is professionals in this field aren't making it sound like it's an easy solution. ID software are some of the best devs out there and if this is what they are saying it should be taken seriously. It wasn't just the amount of RAM they complained about it was the differences in speed as well. I also think it's very concerning how even this dev specifically left that issue a lone when it was the whole basis for their complaints. Im not even sure the other devs mentioned the CPUGPU.
Ok for all of this, but "and anybody with even a little experience will tell you as such" wasn't useful, since devs with good reputation in the domain had raised concerns regarding the Series S. Thus, stating they don't have any experience in the domain is kinda meh as an approach
Console development gets more and more like PC development every day, it'll be alright.
If its less powerful than the oneX then its hardly next gen.....more likely its using newer hardware to give a sub next generation performance at a cheaper price.
Someone like DF needs to do a comparison between the OneX and Series S to see whether its actually better or worth an investment.
Tus not a debate, the Series S is much more powerful than the One X. Being at par GPU might be their only similarity. But even then the Series S has a more modern GPU with new features One X can't duplicate.
Its*, not tus. Weird phone typo.
Interesting how people seem to believe a guy from a developer that's made a single game over a couple guys at ID and others.
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