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Kyuu on 13 March 2023
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smroadkill15 said:

The only thing that would be an actual cause of concern is if 3rd party games skip Xbox entirely because of the Series S. That has not been the case. If that doesn't happen and games keep coming to Xbox, the Series S was worth it for MS and owners. Games running below 1080P isn't a concern. Anyone who uses the Series S for what it is, doesn't care. They would have bought a Series X or PS5 if they did.

Devs have been having to deal with underpowered systems for decades, it literally their job to figure this stuff out. 

I mean when games skip Xbox, people will automatically assume it's purely down to Sony moneyhatting, so how will we be able to make a distinction? Silent Hill 2 Remake's PC minimum requirements are significantly higher than the Series S (disclaimer: this doesn't mean Series S absolutely "can't" run it). The Medium, which was also a current-gen exclusive (timed Xbox Series exclusive) from the same developer, had much lower system requirements. Mandating Xbox will make moneyhatting easier for Sony. As a matter of fact some developers who never intend to make a Series XS version of a hypothetical ambitious game (due to S limitations/challenges) will approach Sony for a deal, because it makes business sense, it's free money.

If Series S sales don't drastically pick up, MS better stop mandating it, it's for their own good. The majority of games would still come to it regardless because the Switch 2 will future proof it. A portable Series S SKU also has potential imo, but idk if MS is going that way.

Pemalite said:
Kyuu said:

I think the first generation Series S will be dropped (as a mandated SKU) in favor of a more powerful Series S+ (hopefully 75% more powerful, 12GB of RAM, bigger SSD). Unless Series S succeeds in appealing to a very large non-gamer or non-console-gamer demographic, I'd rather it not be mandated, because it would suck to see the more ambitious games in the early to mid 2030's being held back by Series S tech. It's bad enough that we're still stuck to Xbox One specs in the in early 2020's thanks to crossgen overstaying its welcome. I want the minimum spec to have as high a floor as economically possible. Series S can still get a ton of support without the need of being mandated, because the Switch 2 exists and it's going to be huge.

The reason Series S is the best selling Xbox is because the X isn't being produced in large enough volumes.

My primary concern with the S is that we're probably getting mid-gen upgrades in a few years. Mid-gen upgrades will allow developers to go crazier with games, that even Series X and PS5 will often struggle at sub 1080p/40 fps. There would be a limit to how much a developer can scale back on Series S before it gets ridiculous (challenging, unplayable, costly, time wasting, etc).

I understand and agree fully, but Consoles tend to be supported for the entire generation.

I always want the graphics bar to be raised more, I would have liked to have seen the Series X and Playstation 5 to offer more hardware, but the current climate didn't allow for it, hence the mid range hardware.

The Series S has been a success for Microsoft, so it is not going away.

Consoles get "full" (or close to full) 3rd party support throughout a generation when they're adequately powerful and popular, Series S is neither of these. Some developers will not want to be stuck for 10-13 years to a system that is both weak and unpopular. So far it looks like PS5's specs/price is perfect for the current economics, so it (and comparable consoles/PC's) should be the new standard. Mandating Series S would lead to plenty of ambitious PS5/PC games skipping Xbox. MS should take a PC like approach (system requirements) at this point and officially make Xbox a full blown hybrid between console and PC. It would piss off some early adopters, but the pros outweigh the cons... I think.

As far as I'm concerned Xbox's current relative success has nothing to do with the Series S. But again, by the end of 2023, a lot of opinions including some of my own will change. This year should be a lot more indicative than previous years as to where the market is heading.