(The title is a reference to the unfamous worst VGChartz article ever)

I wanted to launch this "debate" about the Series S' lack of power following the Baldur Gate 3 gate (or the Baldur Gategate) which doesn't have an Xbox Series version yet, due to issue with Co-op, supposedly with the Series S. And mainly the Series X beign tied with the Series S in term of games.

I was watching the Digital Foundry video about Wo Long, and the comparisons aren't that great.

Basically, the Series S version runs at 900p both resolution and performance mode, with resolution mode running at 30fps, with cut-backs similar to last gen versions.

And regarding Hogwarts Legacy:

Basically 792p on performance mode, with regular dips, even on the high-40s and around 1080p for 28-30fps.

And as we get bigger and better games, with last gen being a soon thing from the past, won't the Series S be the biggest issue in the near future when it comes to games on Xbox ? We know PC games have to adapt to every possible configuration, but the situation is different here, and I wonder if we will get to the point where the Series S will no longer have to have the same features as the Series X in its games, or even not have a game the Series X might have.

Series S has well and truly hit its limit and is becoming a nasty thorn in MS’ side, time to discontinue it and just focus on the Series X. Only a matter of time (probably soon) devs are gonna straight up stop making Series S compatible games.

It seems MS rather drops features entirely (Halo Infinite co-op) instead of breaking feature parity. I doubt MS is going to allow it in the future either since about half the user base is on Series S. What it could lead to is some features only being available on PS5 and more delays like BG3 for XBox Series. And of course more 792p / 30 fps games on Series S with frequent dips and other performance issues. It's a roundabout way to make streaming look better :/

Maybe try to come up with examples that aren't as badly optimized as those two games which also struggle on Series X and PS5.

Why ?

I can name 1st party or indie games that run good on the Series S, I can even name games that have Ray Tracing on the Series S. But that wouldn't be my point.

I can on the other hand a longer list, listing all the stuff that aren't good on the Series S.  

These 2 examples (actually 3 with Baldur's Gate 3 but you choose to ignore it on purpose) are:

- the biggest game of the moment

- the most recent day one game pass release

in order to stay short and relevant.

But okay, look away, say "that doesn't exist" and close the debate.

I was against the idea of the XSS from the very start, especially considering it's GPU is less powerful than the (older architecture) X1X.

I think they were too worried that the price point of the XSX would hurt sales, and wanted to make an "affordable" option, one for people who might just connect it to their 1080p monitor at their desk. The issue now is that they simply cannot drop support for it or the optics will look really bad. It was a bad call to make a "cheaper version", as well as the naming itself, too. Xbox really fucks up simple things, yet has been getting the hardware right since the X1S. They can't name for shit, they can't even get a steady exclusive schedule going, they really disappointed with Halo Infinite (their BIGGEST franchise), it's kind of crazy that they managed to give us the best gaming sub service in Game Pass lol

It was the stupidest idea, but just now, 3 years ago it was amazing idea , now its lets discontinue it and fuck the suckers who bought it.

it's what to be expected from the Series S, especially if it's poorly optimized

If you care about performance, there's a series X for ya

No, I don't see 3rd party games skipping Series S, MS sure as hell wont be dropping it. BG3 situation is interesting, MS probably have people on it rn

The series S will just be fine and there would not be any reason to drop feature to support it unless it's visual qualify oriented like ray tracing.
So far all game on series S are feature complete and they constitute literally hundreds of proof attesting to exactly this.
The choice of the game engine will always have much more impact on a game feature especially when the difference in CPU power is only ~5%.

If you view the Xbox series X and S from another point of view there's no real difference when handling game for X and S compare to handling title for the Switch docked vs handled. (Switch GPU literally goes from 768Mhz to 300mhz making the power difference ratio very similar to X vs S). Except that with the switch your are forced to use the same assets while you have the option to be more efficient with the Series S and use lower quality assets like 1080p texture instead of 4k one.

And the Baldur gates 3 split screen issue is blown way out of proportion:
The game is literally still months away.
We don't even know when they started working on the series S version.
The issue is very specific.
What resolution they're trying to target with and without split screen. (EX: they could very well focus on a 1080p experience instead of going the easy route and just dropping to 900p)
What assets quality they're going for.

The Series S is for sure gonna struggle 2024 or 2025 onwards when games start really pushing the PS5 and Series X hard. When stuff starts running at 720p 30fps with drops into the 20's it's gonna be really rough for it. How GTA 6 is gonna run on it is important since for someone with a 4K TV it won't exactly be an ideal experience playing it like that or even at 900p 30fps. If supporting the Series S gets hard enough down the line I could see it getting to a point certain games skip Xbox and be PS5 and PC only with others not reaching their full potential due to having to run on it.