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Kyuu on 13 March 2023
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smroadkill15 said:
Kyuu said:

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:

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.

PC system requirements don't mean much for console optimization. I believe Silent Hill is a timed exclusive for a year so it will come to Xbox eventually. That's a lot of assumptions without really anything to back them up. A 3rd party dev who wants to release a game on multiple platforms will likely reach out for support from MS if it gets to that point, especially if it's a big publisher or independent studio, before dropping it entirely. 

Why would they be stuck to the Series X|S hardware for 10-13 years? They will certainly drop support by then and move on to the next Xbox. 
You don't think the Series S has anything to do with sales up to this point? While Sony and MS were having issues making enough PS5 and Series X consoles, MS was able to make more Series S's and push sales for Xbox for the last 2 years. Now Xbox needs to put more focus making Series X consoles, but it worked out great or them early on. 

The Series S isn't going to be dropped until the gen is over. I'm not sure why this is even a talking point. There is a difference between what you think should happen and the reality of the situation. 

The last years of the 10-13 year period mainly apply to some A/AA games and sports games which traditionally support previous gen systems for several years. This generation is expected to last too long... and if the current super slow transition is anything to go by, the next crossgen period may persist even longer due to diminishing returns and rising costs. If Series S is mandated, a lot of games will either skip Xbox Series or be extremely held back. The gap between Series S and X/PS5 is massive as is (they're effectively 3 to 5 times more powerful per real world results).

Maybe I missed something but timed exclusivity is a contract. When the contract ends, the game isn't guaranteed to hit Xbox, but the publisher regains the right to do whatever they want. It doesn't necessarily confirm that it's coming to Xbox (although it likely will).

Consoles and PC are quite similar now. PC requirements give us a decent idea how demanding a game can be on consoles. Though I'm not sure these requirements are exactly final (if they are, expect the lowest native resolutions/fps on PS5 yet). Just don't be surprised if it skips Xbox, or if the Series S version ends up in a near-unplayable state. The Medium (from the same developer that's working on Silent Hill 2 Remake) with its relatively modest minimum requirements struggled on the Series S (Resolution goes as low as 648p at 30fps). It's fair to set an expectation from this and the trailer we've seen that SH2R will be at least notably more demanding on both console and PC (assuming said minimum requirements are final and fairly accurate, which they may not be).

We're not feeling Series S's limitations yet coz the vast majority of relevant games are still crossgen, and the few that aren't also don't have nearly as high of minimum PC requirements as SH2R. The workload will decide what's viable on Series S and what isn't. It's just common sense.