Codemasters technical director David Springate spoke to Eurogamer's Digital Foundry earlier today as part of the PAX x EGX event, talking a bit about how Dirt 5 will work on next-generation consoles.
As part of this, he was asked specifically about the Xbox Series S and its capabilities, confirming that recent footage of the title was captured on the console's dev system, and praising the Series S as "a great piece of kit, amazing."
In regards to its lower spec compared to the Xbox Series X, as well as bringing Dirt 5 to current-gen platforms such as Xbox One and PlayStation 4, here's what Springate had to say:
"To be honest, it's really easy [to develop for the Xbox Series S]."
"It has less RAM, there's less that you're going to be able to do, but are you going to notice? If we put 4K assets in the Xbox Series X version and they're not available in the Series S version, if the Series S version is running at say 1440p, are you going to notice that those textures aren't there? Does that matter? And is that really the experience that's aimed at that person that has spent £250 buying a Series S?
In terms of development, it really just comes down to - we have higher resolution texture packs that are available for the higher-end consoles that can do that, and then we just dial back resolutions and sometimes things like the amount of crowd or intensity of weather or shadow quality, things like that, for the different platforms."
The director also confirmed that Dirt 5 is attempting to implement multiple performance modes across all consoles, with 60fps and 120fps options on the table for the Series S, and even the potential of a "locked" 60fps option, allowing the default version to "look a little nicer" but frame out in "very extreme circumstances."
What do you make of Springate's comments on the Xbox Series S? Let us know below.
[source eurogamer.net]
Comments 16
They're not going to be making an Xbox series S Aladdin deck enhancer then I take it?
This explanation proves that Microsoft is right about Series S. You get next-gen games at lower resolution and without ultra
graphics settings and 4K textures.
@Medic_Alert
It seems that the thing I commented a while back turned out to be true and we actually get the same games running at also a lower setting as well as lower resolution.
Yet still I totally "understand" the compromise that needs to be made.
Also interesting in another DF interview it was mentioned how people shouldn't really look forward to a PS5 Pro/XSX+ or something or perhaps a deep price cut on these consoles 2 years down the line due to hardware market.
@BlueOcean I tweeted similar to what you're saying and had reply after reply saying S will be the same as X but in 1440p, yet this interview and even some Microsoft wording says stuff about assets like in this case with Dirt 5, "the amount of crowd or intensity of weather or shadow quality"
@masofdas The lack of 4K textures was assumed when Microsoft explained that Series S would be like Series X but in 1440p. Recently, they said that it's up to developers how they want to approach the hardware. Some will probably offer resolution and quality modes like on Xbox One X but thanks to the next-gen CPU and proportionate memory we can be sure that it won't have trouble running next-gen games. However, Xbox One X might because of its older CPU and that would explain why most Xbox Game Studios games removed the "Xbox One" tag from trailers and websites, all but Halo Infinite.
Series S will be fine throughout the generation and we can expect ray tracing because it's a hardware feature and although we can't expect a very high native resolution and 4K textures, the console can upscale to 4K.
@BlueOcean you say it was assumed but seems it wasn't by some (by the accounts, die hard Xbox fans) and isn't just textures as we have the asset example with the crowd or weather, where the replies etc I got were on lines it be exactly the same even though MS saying up to the devs.
As the interview puts it "Does that matter? And is that really the experience that's aimed at that person that has spent £250 buying a Series S?"
And I think the S will be a huge success, but I was pointing out why I was getting an X at the time
@masofdas I think that it depends on what the developer wants to achieve, the CPU is great, the ray tracing is a hardware feature and the GPU and memory are designed for 1080/1440p. Once the games and Digital Foundry analyses are out we'll find out what the differences are for Series X, PS5 and Series S. It's going to be really interesting.
@BlueOcean
Yeah, can't wait for them look at Immortals Fenyx Rising as it be on PS4, PS4 Pro, PS5, Xbox One, One X, Series S, Series S, Switch, Stadia, PC
@masofdas I'm also getting the Series X but I want to see all that, these cross-gen games like Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Cyberpunk 2077 (this one will take a little longer) and what about backwards compatible games and current-gen games like Monster Hunter World? Or The Witcher 3 once the next-gen version is released? That one is on Switch as well.
I am not convinced we won't see a mid gen upgrade from both Sony and MS. Obviously this gen, we saw the adoption of higher resolution TV's and HDR that gave both a big reason to offer a mid-gen refresh so it made sense - either that or cut the generation shorter to release new gen hardware.
This gen, we are at the birth of RT and 120fps gaming. Its clear that we could still be presented options to run a game at a 'better' visual quality and lower frame rate or vice versa. This game too will be giving us a choice of better Visual Quality or high frame rates. The PS5 has announced that Miles Morales will have a 4k/30 with RT or 4k/60 mode.
We don't know where games could be in 3-4yrs, what 'compromises' devs have to make and what choices we could be faced with. Do we want to play the game at 30fps with Ray Tracing or miss out on RT to play at 60fps and maybe have to play at lower resolution with reduced visual quality settings to play at 120fps - I am talking about Series X here with maybe fewer choices for Series S owners - like we see now with XB1S vs XB1X.
Therefore both Sony and MS could release a mid-gen upgrade to get 4k/60 with RT or 4k/120 without RT for example, It seems clear that MS built the XB1X for the last '3yrs' of this generation as its now been discontinued. Maybe the Series S is a transition console for the first half of this generation as people still have HD TV's and with the current state of the world, makes sense to offer a cheaper option. With Expansion cards, you can trade in and transfer your games too.
Another aspect of course is MS could offer a 'new' All Access option in 3-4yrs to get your 'upgrade' - whether to Series X or the 'mid gen' upgrade - much like upgrading your phone and starting a 'new' contract every 3-4yrs as a lot of people do upgrade phones, tablets etc.
I am not saying it will definitely happen, but I can already see 'reason's' that both Sony and MS would. By that time, the current Gen would be discontinued too and its not like you can die shrink much below 7nm (5nm possibly). I think Sony will want to bring a PS5 Pro out myself. RT uses Cores and with 36, they don't have that many to play with so may very well bring out a Pro and I can't see MS not either....
@BlueOcean The big problem in X1X/XSS BC in some cases would look like this example. It may not be every game, but it's just something to consider.
Xbox One version: 720p. 900p, 1080p
Xbox One X version: Native 4k with high quality textures (be it 4k textures or somewhere still higher than original resolution)
Xbox Series S version: 1440p, original 720/900/1080 textures.
X1X enhancements aren't just "higher rendering resolution", there was more to the package than that. Of course it's on a game by game basis and some X1X games were just "native 4k, same quality settings" but it's why I feel a blanket statement doesn't do anything for the argument, be it for or against.
@Menchi I guess we'll have to wait a bit. I've enjoyed backwards compatibility and the Xbox One X enhancements much (I don't have an Xbox 360) so for me it's Series X and not S because I don't want to sacrifice anything but both Series consoles are well designed for what they are supposed to do.
@TheGamerKing not PS3 lol
@masofdas maybe he was referring to the generations, like gta v on xbo/ps4 compared to the 360/ps3. Less crowds and weather, etc. And not necessarily series x to s.
@PhhhCough I think so...
"then we just dial back resolutions and sometimes things like the amount of crowd or intensity of weather or shadow quality, things like that, for the different platforms".
The whole interview video is VERY interesting...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRkjzA8hQqM
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