[GameSpot] - Studios Asking Xbox To Drop Xbox Series S Requirement, Dev Says; System Has Become "Albatross"

[343iBot]

A game developer has claimed that "many" studios are trying to drop a requirement that their games have to launch on the Xbox Series S.

As reported by VGC, VFX artist Ian Maclure responded to a post from Jeff Gerstmann, formerly of Giant Bomb, who said he believes the "'Series S is holding back next-gen games' argument seems really broken to me." Maclure, who worked on Xbox Series X|S title I Am Fish, responded to this to explain that a number of developers actually do want the Series S requirement dropped.

"It might sound broken, but the reason you are hearing it a lot right now is because MANY [sic] developers have been sitting in meetings for the past year desperately trying to get Series S launch requirements dropped," wrote Maclure.

"Studios have been through one development cycle where Series S turned out to be an albatross around the neck of production, and now that games are firmly being developed with new consoles in mind, teams do not want to repeat the process," added Maclure, whose account is now private at the time of writing.

The Xbox Series S was designed as a more cost-efficient console, costing only $300, a whole $200 less than the Series X, which currently sits at $500. This does come at a couple of costs though, as the console targets 1440p resolution rather than the native 4K on the Series X. There's also no disc drive, meaning players will only be able to play games digitally, which is obviously where Game Pass comes into the equation.

Gotham Knights was recently confirmed to run at a maximum of 30fps, which Rocksteady senior character technical artist Lee Devonald seemed to suggest was in part due to the fact the game was releasing on the Series S.

View the full article