If there was ever any doubt as to whether or not Microsoft would keep its mandate for developers to equally support both the Xbox Series X and its lower-powered sister console, the Series S, Xbox boss Phil Spencer has now put such doubts to bed.
In a recent interview with Eurogamer during Gamescom 2023, Spencer outright states that “I don’t see a world where we drop S.”
Family ties
Spencer was referring to parity with the above statement. He went onto further explain, even admitting that there are some features that come to first-party games on Xbox Series X that aren’t available to Series S players, “like ray-tracing that works on X, it’s not on S in certain games.”
He then went onto suggest that because Series S owners spent “roughly half” to acquire the system compared to that of a Series X, they then inherently know that any games they get “[will not] run the same way.”
Even with these caveats in terms of feature set, Spencer continued to say that him and his team are set on keeping games coming to both systems no matter what, stating “that’s our job as a platform holder and we’re committed to that with our partners.”
A space for Series S
Although there’s been quite a bit of discussion from some in the gaming community as to whether or not it can legitimately said that the Xbox Series S is ‘holding back’ progress in the next-gen (now current-gen) console space, Spencer, naturally, thinks differently.
He went onto explain that “having an entry-level price point for console, sub-$300, is a good thing for the industry.” He even pointed to the Switch as an example of yet another cheap, but underpowered system that’s managed to still be successful.
Although Microsoft has long moved away from publishing proper sales numbers for its hardware, we do at least know that the Series S has been selling healthily. Spencer himself even expected this outcome prior to the launch of both consoles in 2020, having even predicted that the Series S would ultimately be the better selling model overall.
In this same Gamescom interview with Eurogamer, the publication also questioned Spencer about future price-cuts. Here, he shot down hopes for any changes, citing that “it’s not the way it used to be where you could take a spec and then ride it out over 10 years and ride the price points down.” In fact, the prices of the Series X and even PS5 have risen in some markets in recent times, adjusting in global rising costs.
Phil Spencer again pointed to the Xbox Series S as being the answer for this issue, as its already lower price point makes it more accessible to budget-conscious consumers.
So, it looks like the Xbox Series S is here to stay for the long haul. Developers will have to continue to be creative to support both it and the Series X.
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