Topic: Xbox Series S holding back next gen gaming?

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Of course the Series S is NOT holding back development of 'new' games. It has the same 'high speed' Multi-threaded CPU as the Series X and the same architecture too meaning it has all the same features - inc DirectX12 Ultimate features (such as RT, VRS, Sampler Feedback, Direct Storage etc) and will run engines like UE5 too.

What you need to understand is that the vast majority, if not all games have been designed for 'Last gen' hardware or at the very least, built a 'traditional' way so don't take advantage of the 'new' architecture. It's that 'old' school method that is more problematic.

Take 'Lighting' for example. If you are 'not' using RT exclusively, you have numerous other ways to 'create' the look of light bouncing around, creating Shadows, reflections, ambient occlusion etc. All those processes still take 'rendering' time and often you get Screen Space and/or Cube Map Reflections (for example) being used as 'back-up' to RT Reflections. You need to use those 'older' methods too because they are scaling games to 'non-RT' enabled platforms and often, RT is being 'added' after release on top of the existing processing required for the older methods.

That's why the Series S may 'lack' some features that are 'added' for Series X - whether that's 120fps modes or RT 'enhancements' because the game is not built for 'next' gen hardware, not utilising the architecture to its most efficient etc. The Series S is the 'next' gen equivalent of the XB1S (or PS4). Its offering gamers a 'cheaper' alternative to XB1X (or PS4 Pro) and, like the XB1S, it still will play ALL the games that the more 'powerful' X version(s) can play, just with 'lower' Visual settings and/or reduced game modes. On XB1S you got a 'worse' visual presentation and often, the XB1X would offer a Performance (60fps) mode whilst XB1S was limited to just 30fps in its one mode. Now we see the Series S offering the same games as Series X with reduced Visual settings (and RT is just a higher visual setting so its no different from the XB1S having lower Shadow or Reflection quality settings) and/or fewer 'modes'. In the Witcher 3 for example, RT enhances 'some' scenes, often it can be difficult to see any difference - so opting for a 'higher' resolution with the Series S, targeting 1440p is providing a noticeable difference over say 1080p in EVERY situation. Maybe the devs prioritised Resolution over RT in this case - doesn't mean Series S is 'bad' or holding back development...

The Series S played games like MSFS, Matrix UE5 demo etc and will be getting Starfield, Fable, Perfect Dark, Forza etc. Its only 1/3rd the GPU of the Series X which was designed to target '4k'. If you scale that down to say 1080p, that's a 'quarter' - so would have 'overheads', at 1440p, that's less than half the size so would need to turn down some settings to push the res up as 1286p (or thereabouts) is about 1/3rd. Which is why 1440p seems to have 'lower' settings (inc no RT), some games seem to be 1080p - 1300p with 'similar' settings and/or frame rates.

If an XB1S or PS4 can continue to sell, continue to offer the 'same' games as the XB1X or PS4 Pro despite both those consoles offering 'better' visuals and even 'better' performance options in some cases, then the Series S is no different. Not everyone has or is even bothered about 4k. They may have a 1080p TV and the Series X is not 'worth' the extra. It only offers a 'disc drive' to them as they can't play above 60fps on their TV and the image is still going to be 'squashed down' to fit inside a 1080p container. Supersampling 4k down to 1080p may have 'more' pixels to sample, but its still only going to present a 1920x1080p image like the Series S.

Time will inevitably tell as they say, but right now we haven't really seen any games made specifically with these 'new' consoles and their 'new' features in mind, not seen UE5 games yet using Nanite/Lumin etc - just an 'early' beta state UE5 demo that ran on Series S but not on 'Last gen' hardware. All 'next-gen' only releases have performed in-line with 'expectations' on Series S when compared to the Series X which only points to the Series S not holding back development.

If the Series X can run a game at 4k/60, the Series S should have no issue running that game at 1080p+. At 1440p, that's perhaps too high a 'resolution' target without reducing settings somewhere because you are asking more from a GPU with 1/3rd the power. 120fps maybe too much too in some cases because its a 'slower' GPU (fewer cycles per frame) with only 8.3ms time to complete each frame.

However, it's CPU is almost identical - just a bit slower - so that means it can handle the SAME AI, Physics, draw calls etc. If you have 100 unique characters, each with their own unique AI, all in battle with destruction, hit detection etc, it doesn't matter if the game is running at 4k or 1080p, the AI, the Physics, the hit detection, the amount of objects on screen, their associated textures etc etc are the same and require the same CPU resources so I don't believe that the Series S will hold gaming back.

By comparison, the difference between an XB1S and XB1X is much larger. The CPU is much slower, the GPU is less than 1/4 and the RAM is significantly slower and relatively lower in the XB1S, leading to a much bigger gap between the S and X during last gen so whilst there is a 'gap' between S & X this gen, its not as big.

If you want to look at things a different way, the 'future' of gaming with 'MS/Xbox' is changing. The 'entry' point isn't the Series S, its 'Cloud' gaming on whatever device(s) you have/want to use. Visuals maybe limited to 1080p and 'compressed', 60fps at best with additional, albeit imperceptible input lag, reliant on your internet connection etc but 'cheap' and you can play 'anywhere''. Next tier up is the Series S which 'improves' visuals, offers native gaming and console features. Then comes the Series X which offers 'improved' visuals and a disc drive, maybe some 'extra' modes in games too but obviously costs double. The 'top' tier is the PC which offers improved Visuals and/or Performance but at even higher cost.

Best 'bang for buck' maybe Cloud as it only costs you a Subscription charge. Series S maybe the best bang for buck Console - still plays all the same games etc and same feature set for half the price. You are paying a LOT more for a 'sharper' looking image and a Disk Drive which doesn't change the way the Story impacts you or the game-play loop. The same reason that people didn't feel the 'need' to upgrade to XB1X or PS4 Pro, feeling that these offered the same games and not bothered enough to pay 'more' for higher resolution, the Series S will fit those people too...