The Xbox boss may change his approach to a compulsory rule, benefitting the developers.
Microsoft sees the Xbox Series S as the base model for the current generation of consoles, while the Xbox Series X is a half-generation upgrade. We’ve reported on this before, and XSS is holding back developers, including Larian Studios, who are working on the Xbox version of Baldur’s Gate III (more on that later today). Eurogamer interviewed Phil Spencer, where the Xbox Series S came up among the topics:
“I don’t see a world where we drop the Xbox Series S. Regarding parity, I don’t think you’ve heard from us or Larian that this was about parity. I think that’s more that the community is talking about it. Some features ship on [Xbox Series] X today that do not ship on [Xbox Series] S, even from our games, like ray-tracing that works on XSX, it’s not on XSS in certain games. So, an Xbox Series S customer spent roughly half of what the Xbox Series X customer bought; they understand it will not run the same way. I want to make sure games are available on both; that’s our job as a platform holder, and we’re committed to that with our partners. And I think we’re going to get there with Larian. So I’m not overly worried about that, but we’ve learned some stuff through it. Having an entry-level price point for a console, sub-$300 is good for the industry. I think it’s important that the Switch has been able to do that in terms of the traditional plug-into-my-television consoles. I think it’s important. So we’re committed,” Spencer said.
So there are already differences in visual features between the two consoles, but there hasn’t been much in the way of gameplay… but there will be. But what about the price? Spencer has openly stated that the Xbox Series S won’t be cheaper, so they won’t go any lower than $/€300. Except for that VG247 editor, Alex Donaldson wrote on Twitter that behind the scenes, developers don’t like the smaller Xbox Series console that much, and Microsoft should move quickly so that not everything has to run on both machines and even Xbox Series X-exclusive features and possibly games should be considered by the Redmond-based company.
Xbox chief marketing officer Jerret West told Gamesindustry that Starfield will be the launch of something greater for Xbox and that they have a lot of untold stories (in-house, first-party games) coming in 2024 and 2025: “This is, in my mind, the doorway, almost like a starting gun, to what I think is going to be a multi-year relay race of first-party titles. It feels like the starting gun for this relay pass that will take place over the next couple of years, so as a marketer, I’m super excited about that. And then if you layer in also Game Pass and our third-party relationships… Our third-party support that rolls into Game Pass – but also is just on our platform – is critically important, too. So, I think we are entering a period where this is the beginning of something special over the next several years. I was watching the same [Starfield presentation] you were this morning. I was like… this is the start of something that’s going to then lead to Forza, then in 2024, as we go to Hellblade, and we think about Towerborne, which is on the show floor, we think about Avowed, and we’ve got stories we haven’t told yet as well, that are going to unfurl in 2024 and 2025.”
So, you can say Microsoft is optimistic.
Leave a Reply