Will Xbox Series X games be held back by previous Xbox hardware?

By Jez Corden
published

Nope nope nope nope.

Xbox Series X
Xbox Series X (Image credit: Microsoft)

So this week I've seen YouTubers and commentators fall over themselves to pour fear all over the Xbox Series X for, in my view, something that should be seen as a pro-consumer move.

Xbox Studios head Matt Booty said in an interview that indeed, the Xbox Series X will be a cross-gen console, with games hitting Xbox One X and S, in addition to the Series X.

The common narrative has been that this is somehow bad, because it somehow, checks notes, will restrict games to their base version, namely the Xbox One S. Wait, what? Really?

Okay, so there were instances even this generation where games have only had Xbox One S scaling modes, skipping the extra power provided by the Xbox One X. Back in 2017. But in 2020, I had to search pretty hard to find examples. The vast majority, if not all, AAA games in 2020 do have an Xbox One X mode, with up to 4K visuals, or 60 frames per second, or in some cases both.

Does that change for the Xbox Series X? The answer is quite literally no.

The Xbox Series X will launch with the same development environment as the Xbox One, S, and X, dubbed ERA. Developers can use Xbox's APIs to scale their games to meet the hardware of each Xbox SKU, far more easily than they could in the previous generational transition. Many games achieved obviously superior visuals on Xbox One and PS4 despite being cross-gen titles, such as Assassin's Creed Black Flag, Battlefield 4, and Grand Theft Auto V. Some games like RYSE, widely regarded as the best-looking console game for quite literally years were originally being built for Xbox 360, too.

You might be able to argue PowerPC and x86 architecture simultaneously (along with Kinect, ahem) hurt the RYSE's scope and gameplay, but we live in very different times now. The Xbox Series X shares a developer environment, and a dev kit, with the Xbox One S and X. This is complete with modern software, improved developer tools, and a common set of APIs. Although the Xbox 360 version never actually launched, in today's times, RYSE would've fared far better as a cross-generational title, with improved tools to scale to different devices.

Now, you can argue that developers don't have the resources or dev hours to target each SKU with specific graphics settings. Typically those developers are on the indie side, which are less likely to be pushing photorealistic visuals anyway. There's nothing wrong with that, of course, it just is what it is.

Hellblade II wallpaper 4

Source: Xbox Game StudiosHellblade II clearly isn't going to be held back by the Xbox One S. (Image credit: Source: Xbox Game Studios)

There could be some legit arguments here, though. The CPU boost and Xbox Series X "SSD as RAM" could provide actual gameplay benefits alongside prettier grass and higher-def puddles. For example, you could have tens of thousands of zombies on-screen instead of mere thousands. I'd argue that most game developers probably wouldn't be utilizing those unique features at the start of a generation anyway, seeking to maximize profit by putting their games across both generations. That has always been the case. Grand Theft Auto V is one of the most successful examples of a cross-gen game remaining relevant throughout two console generations. With digital gaming, games as a service, and the rise of cloud streaming — things are just different now.

Microsoft would also be cutting itself off at the knees to disconnect the tens of millions of Xbox One owners out there, many of whom may just be picking up Xbox One X consoles for the first time as soon as 2019. In a world where Project Xcloud streaming, easy access via Xbox Game Pass (opens in new tab) and Xbox All Access (opens in new tab) are things, install base is god. Arbitrarily adhering to the "old-school rules" of a new console generation is simply a bad business decision in 2020.

Source: Microsoft (Image credit: Source: Microsoft)

It's on Microsoft to prove why the Xbox Series X is a worthwhile purchase when it goes on sale in 2020, and I firmly believe they will do that with visuals designed specifically for the Series X. AAA third-party developers will also lend support, because at the end of the day, why wouldn't they? Why wouldn't they want their games to look as good as they possibly can when the option is there? Nobody is suggesting the prevalence of older GPUs prevents PC games from getting ray-tracing and 4K textures on the high-end. I wonder why. Oh, it's because they don't hold games back.

Related: Everything we know about the Xbox Series X

Xbox Series X/S

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Jez Corden
Jez Corden
Co-Managing Editor

Jez Corden a Managing Editor at Windows Central, focusing primarily on all things Xbox and gaming. Jez is known for breaking exclusive news and analysis as relates to the Microsoft ecosystem while being powered by caffeine. Follow on Twitter @JezCorden and listen to his Xbox Two podcast, all about, you guessed it, Xbox!

55 Comments
  • Of course it won't but saying it does brings in clicks for the videos.
  • 2013 be like ”Will PS4 games be held back by Xbox One?”
  • Same thing is happening on the PS4 and PS5. And every other gen.
  • Of course it will, the massive jump in CPU and storage Speed allows for new experiences that can't be replicated with the Xbox One S & X and PS4 & Pro. It is kinda sad that MS isn't building games to take full advantage of the Series X in its first year or two, but at least more people are going to play their games. It pretty much is a double edge sword.
  • The funny thing is, what makes it different to other gens is the reasons given for why its possible to have cross gen games.
    The development environment, tools, api's, engines, will be the same. So not much new to learn in the beginning and redo unlike previous gen when everything changed. That doesn't mean everything can scale though. Just that the tools are the same.
  • This talk only works when we are talking about graphics. However it doesn't work when talking about stuff like AI, phisics, simulations, etc. Sony in a closed door presentation showed how limited the Spider-Man web swinging speed was by the HDD on the PS4. If the next Spider-Man game would be launched in let's say November 2021 for both the PS4 and PS5 the game would be limited GAMEPLAY wise by the PS4.
  • History shows your wrong. MS will have a different studio port the One version. https://youtu.be/_oJOEbsXiLk
  • This just shows how simple games can be ported to last gen consoles, but more complex games like a potential Spider-Man sequel will be impossible because the new hardware will be taken advantage of to improve Gameplay, and in this situation cutting graphics doesn't solve the issue
  • I'm not sure you actually know what your talking about. THAT Spiderman demo was showing load steam times. They were showing how a world can load on the fly faster via SSD than HDD. Making a game available on Xbox One will have 0 effect on thr Series X SSD stream loading. The video of Forza Horizon 2 if you watched it, was Digital Foundry explaining all the changed that had to be made from the Xbox One version just to run on the 360 version. For a start FH2 on Xbox One was an entirely new engine. FH2 on 360 was actually using the FH1 game engine. The physics, the AI, even some of the missions were totally dropped from the 360 version due to it not being possible on the 360. If anything Titan fall (another game which had drastic game engine changes from the Xbox One counterpart) also shows how all this hold back talk is nonsense. All Series X games will be made from the ground up for Series X. And then not just graphics but physical game engines will be scaled way back to work on Xbox One. MS has already proved this as I pointed out with several games at the beginning of the Xbox One Era. Rise of The Tomb Raider another. A gane that Digital Foundry said when it released was one of the best technical showcases of all PS4 and Xbox One games when it released. Yet it had a 360 version. Funny how the 360 version didn't hold any of these titles back at all. There is alot of nonsense talk from people just looking to have a go at Xbox. Especially as they are doing so well at the minute. (series X most powerful, 15 first party studios, consumer friendly practices). Then there's the Switch ports. Wolfenstein 2 was made from the ground up for PS4, Xbox One and PC. And yet it has been scaled way way back to run on the much much more inferior hardware of the Switch.
  • I do know what I'm talking about and you can mention very few examples of games that were not very dependent of the new CPU running fine with one of them having some gameplay changes but that doesn't change the fact that making a game playable on last gen consoles may be impossible if they are built for next gen, you just need to look at tons of other games that couldn't jump to last gen consoles. And I don't think we are talking about the same Spider-Man Demo, I'm talking about that Demo where there was a camera flying super fast through the city, Mark Cerny even mentioned how the gameplay of the web swinging was limited by the HDD. And another thing that is very important to remember is that there was a very small jump in CPU and storage speed, the only big change besides the GPU was the Ram. And having these small jumps meant that games didn't change much gameplay wise (similar story with the Switch vs XOne and PS4 but even smaller), but this time we are going to have a huge jump in all 4 aspects of the console meaning that if a game is taking full advantage of the CPU and SSD it will simply not work on last gen consoles.
  • All the games I mentioned to to you were all very heavy CPU games. Forza Horizon is a CPU heavy open world game. And there isnt a small number of games. Every single Switch port of a Xbox One/PS4 game is evidence big time. The CPU in Swithh is highly inferior to PS4. And its had over 70 ports of PS4 built games. Ganes designed and built from the ground up for PS4s Jaguar CPU. Many of those games made when Switch wasn't even on thr market. Doom. A highly intensive CPU driven game. Runs in switch. But do not look at that Spiderman demo as anything other than storage changes. That is a simple SSD promotion. And making games for PS4 and PS5 woukd have 0 effect in PS5 still doing what it does.
  • Hopefully they'll even have a competent studio do it. Sumo Digital should have been one of the last people they chose to handle FH2 on 360.
  • So, this is the new talking point coming from people who are not game developers.
  • How do you know if I'm a Dev or not?
  • Because you would have said so at this point.
  • Because you think an SSD promotion of a PS4 Spiderman game showing load speeds on an SSD would be affected by making the game on older hardware. It wouldnt. That's not how it works. A developer would know that.
  • Googling for replies doesn't make you a dev.
  • He's making a few different points and conflating them. Has there always been cross gen games. Yes
    Is there a business case for it for the studio. Yes
    Can graphics scale, especially as still DX12 level of hardware. Yes.
    The title and overriding premise, will it hold games back. Actually YES it will.
    Using XO and 1X as examples isn't applicable. The 1X was made to run XO games just better, so basically just an upgraded GPU, supercharged XO.
    Next gen, every part of the system is a generational jump not just the GPU. Said it himself, the dev environment will be the same, but it actually means the opposite of what he says. It means they can make use of next gen features much quicker than before. Is it consumer friendly? Not sure why if they are going to make exclusives in a year anyway. So I don't particularly have much of a view on that for now.
  • History shows your wrong. MS did it with Titnfall, Forza Horizon 2 and Rise Of The Tomb Raider. And not one of those games was held back by there being a 360 version. MS used the Xbox One as the base. And had a different studio port the 350 version. Make no mistake, Series X will be the base. And then the Xbox One version will have an outside studio scale the engines back for Xbox One. https://youtu.be/_oJOEbsXiLk
  • "MS did it with Titnfall, Forza Horizon 2 and Rise Of The Tomb Raider.[...]MS used the Xbox One as the base. And had a different studio port the 350 version"
    MS didn't make Titanfall and RoTR. MS had deals with 3rd party studios to make these games. Can you tell me which studio made the 360 port of Tomb raider? "And then the Xbox One version will have an outside studio scale the engines back for Xbox One."
    Do you have a link to this or is it only you speculating once again?
  • MS had exclusivity deals in place with both those titles. Helped fund the development of both those games. And had teams from MS help support the development to 360. Your argument is irrelevant. Those titles are proof that games built from the ground up for Xbox One can be ported to weaker engines for the 360. That is the point. What your doing is sidetracking an argument. There is over 100 Switch titles that also proof development of games made for CPUs and GPUs generations apart will run on weaker hardware. Everyone was gobsmacked when Wolfenstein actually ran on Switch. Even though it's a game engine designed specifically to take advantage of PS4 and Xbox One. My point is there is hundreds of real world evidence that supports the fact that you can make a game from the ground up for the higher tier hardware and it will run on much weaker hardware with Game engine changes. There is 0 evidence to support it hinders development of the gane on stronger hardware by doing so. Hundreds of Xbox 360 and Switch ports. And thousands of PC gakes over 35 years are what evidence I'm using.
  • "Those titles are proof that games built from the ground up for Xbox One can be ported to weaker engines for the 360."
    I never said it cant be done I only asked EVIDENCE for this statement of yours:
    "the Xbox One version will have an outside studio scale the engines back for Xbox One." It's REALLY not difficult to understand!
  • All 360 games that had ports of Xbox One titles were not ported by the original team that made those games for Xbox One. History tells us that MS have a seperate team port the version to the weaker console. Sumo Digital for example handled the 360 version of Forza Horizon 2.
  • 100% no. There are some big examples from beginning of Xbox One. Like Titan fall, Forza Horizon 2 and Rise Of The Tomb Raider. https://youtu.be/_oJOEbsXiLk
  • PC games have been doing this for as long as PC gaming has existed.
    Have any games been 'exclusively' released for my RTX 2080 Ti? Have I been able to play many games on both my 2080 Ti AND my 980 Ti from several years back?
    What simply happens is to scale back on performance or features for the older cards (eg. RTX on/off, 1080p vs. 2k or 4k, low, mid, high, ultra textures, 30 fps vs. 60 fps etc.). It's really that simple. Console developers only traditionally took the 'easy' development route because it was previously a clean generational transition. But the rules have changed, the performance leaps are no longer as dramatic as in previous generations, I still look at some 13 year old x360 games that are pretty good looking graphically (was playing SC IV the other day and it still looks impressive). Now, console developers have to start making games with the approach of PC developers that are used to multiple performance classes (that's why there's always a minimum and recommended specs for PC games for as long as I can remember, not a single spec). This is hardly an issue, performance and features will simply scale.
  • Cross generational releases will also be a good thing going forward because many titles are artificially limited only to the latest generation of consoles. Games like Ori, Cuphead, Bayonetta 2 (assuming it was cross-platform) would probably run quite decently on the X360 if optimized for that generation of consoles, but there's no chance of it because they were artificially restricted to the latest generation of consoles. Imagine if new titles similar to Shovel Knight, or Rocket League suddenly requires an Xbox Series X to run, lol!
  • Graphics performance scaling isn't a concern with this announced "forward compatibility." Nothing but time and money can stop a studio from bumping up polygon counts, texture resolutions and other GPU-centric rendering tricks to make games look better on this upcoming gen of consoles. Graphics are simply the icing on the cake, with the cake being the underlying logic that makes a game tick. Until games are designed to run exclusively on the (assumably) much faster CPUs in the new consoles, Xbox Series X games will effectively be crippled to run logic such as NPC AI and object persistence only as complex as allowed by the Xbox One CPUs, at least without making literally game-changing sacrifices. That all said, I don't think it really matters. As others have pointed out, it will probably take a few years for such advanced games to be developed anyway so this is a smart business move by Microsoft and makes sense, even if it is a little disappointing to know we won't get any groundbreaking game design surprises for the near future other nicer looking graphics.
  • Yes XSX is already dead.
    No xbox game will be better than Spider Man 2, God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn 2, TLOU2, Ghost of Tsushima etc...
    Also Nintendo Switch Pro will outsell Xbox SX (again)
    No VR, No Next gen games lol
  • Good never like any of those... And Xbox doesn't need to do better than Sony or Nintendo to exist and going strong for those who care about their catalogue and the superior quality of the multi platforms... I'd be more worried about Sony still existing as a company in a few years down the road... Their financial state has been rather rough over the past decades and they came close to be dismantled by shareholder a few times... You might love Playstation but beside their entertainment branch Sony is doing anything but okay... But you are obviously a trollolo.. ' got about 300+ games on a the best console out there in terms of hardware for little more than the price of 10% of their worth at retail price with out looking for discounts... Try to beat that on any platforms... I' ll keep my superior deal on my superior console even if the mass market is not doing the same... Heck McDonald's is the biggest hamburger and fries seller in the world... It ain't anywhere close to be the best burger joint or even chain out there... Sony is the McDonald of gaming get a clue or keep eating junk game thx you bye bye
  • @JMV83
    ".It ain't anywhere close to be the best burger joint or even chain out there... Sony is the McDonald of gaming get a clue or keep eating junk game thx you bye bye"
    What an idiotic argument. I mean it's not as if the XB/MS games have been critically acclaimed successes. LOL
  • Wait what? Halo CE was probably the best console FPS since goldeneye, online gaming and coop wouldn't be what it is on console without MS... Forza trumped GT for years in quality... And a good bunch of innovative games and franchise that made the VG industry evolve way more than anything Sony ever did (beside milking the cow) But even further back MSGS had always been a renoum name... Flight simulator, age of series, the madness series, mech assault, close combat... And I'm not even talking about the backoffice tools and support that they've been providing for decades... You should get a clue about the prépondérant role MS has been playing in the video game industrie for decades and way before Sony even thought about making a console Gaming wouldn't be what it is without MS...Nvidia and ATI wouldn't sell without MS... So yeah it ain't because Sony sells to the masses that it's a prime actor of the industry... Just another mass cow milker
  • It's funny seeing Sony trolls get so emotionally upset over video games. It's like life or death to them.
  • @jams
    Not sure who are these Sony trolls. But you know why people are taking video games seriously? Maybe because they are actually fans of video games.
    Unlike idiots who are fans of company.
    Some people love video games and that's their priority, Some other are fans of company and that company is their priority. Worshipping a company? hahah
    That's really sad and pathetic imo, jams... :)
  • Lol you fanatical trolls should get out and get some fresh air once in a while. Video games aren't life and death. Worshiping companies and taking video games very seriously is bad for your mental well being. Stalking, harassing and insulting people and staff is wrong. Imo you have a sad and sorry life outside of video games Guest ;)
  • "Stalking, harassing and insulting people"
    LOL the irony... I said company fanboys who worship a company are sad and pathetic.
    You sound upset. Did you take that comment to heart? LOL
  • Lol taking video games to heart to the point where it's life and death isn't healthy. You may want to seek professional help for that. These words may be foreign to you but social life and extra curricular activities could be beneficial for you. There is nothing wrong with having a life outside of video games. Give it a try sometime ;)
  • LOL you're funny. Who said anything about life and death? You should know about social life. Looks like you are married to the company you worship. Spend all your time glorifying that company and trashing it's competition or attack anyone who dares criticise the company you worship... Your posting history is proof of that... :) Anyway, I'll leave you here, I've actually have a life and don't want to spend too much time talking with fanboys like you...
  • "Worshipping a company? hahah
    That's really sad and pathetic imo, jams... " Yes, it is sad and pathetic that worship companies so much that you refuse to even look at Microsoft' critically acclaimed games.
  • @JMV83
    Halo CE?? Are you having a laugh? That was bungie game.
    The last 2 main Halo games were "MS games". And they turned out to be the worse rated main Halo game in it's history.
    Forza started getting better ratings than GT, ok. But that's probably because they turned it into a yearly franchise like FIFA, or COD. It's hilarious how you bring real old games to prove your point. Innovation??? HAHAH
    Yeah, MS introduced brilliant innovation like paying to play online. Also they were one of the first idiots to introduce microtransactions in gaming.
    https://www.usgamer.net/articles/the-history-of-gaming-microtransactions...
    Also pushing for microtransactions and loot box during the XB1 era:
    https://www.gamesradar.com/xbox-ones-launch-exclusives-foreshadows-dysto...
    Remember 2013 when they wanted to take a fee from used game sale? or when they wanted to add DRM and 24 hour check on every game? LOL
    That's the type of brilliant innovation they are great at. MS called their 2015 lineup the best in XB history.
    So let's see what that lineup was all about:
    - Halo 5: Lowest rated main Halo game in the history of the franchise.
    - Forza 6: Yearly forza
    - Gears of war UE: remastered of an old game
    - RoTR: third party game, Timed. They invested money so that other gamers get the game late. And THAT is MS's best lineup according to MS. You want to talk quality? Look at some of their recent main release. SoT (incomplete game, lack of content, full of fetch quests), SoD2 (buggy game that was sold to gamers as a AAA game but was hardly an improvement from the first) or Crackdown 3 (one of the most downgraded game in history with their laughable "power of the cloud"). Not only does MS release FAR less exclusives for their console, the few they release are usually worse rated than the PS4 exclusives. You really need to bring better argument because so far you've got NOTHING.
  • Don't list games that aren't out yet to help your cause, it makes your look stupid.
  • Those games are basically weekend rentals that you play once or twice. Little to no replay value. One game is a button masher, the other is swinging from generic building to generic building, and the last is a boring walk simulator. No thanks. Not to mention third-party multiplat games consistently outsell those boring exclusives you listed.
  • The Switch outsells the PS almost everywhere now. Japan itself has abandon PS almost completely. Nowadays PS4 sells like an Xbox in Japan. At least, Xbox never sells in Japan. It wouldn't be that big of an issue if it were somewhat close between Switch and PS4 in Japan. But, what is the excuse for Sony getting decimated (not even close now) in its own backyard? In less then a 18 months after its release Switch sold more then it took PS to sell in almost 5 years in Japan. Today it is around three million ahead in Japan. Not a single PS4 game in the top 20 for Japan for this past December (all Switch). Thanks for your concern about the Xbox though. However, maybe you should worry about your precious PS5 not being able to take on Switch and others can worry about Xbox Series X. As far as games that aren't out you may not want to count your chickens before they hatch. Especially when most of that list is several years away from being released. Strange to think that one of the complaints about Xbox seems to almost always center around games always having a number attached to the games (Gears X, Halo X, Forza Motorsports X, etc..). Yet all but one of those games you mentioned are just the next iteration (numbers attached to games). Where is all that great new IP for one and done games we have come to love for 18 hours and never play again on PS? Why the same old games, same old characters for PS? Has Sony no creativity left? Right now you only can compare GodFall for PS5 to Halo Infinity for Series X as announced games for next gen. I am willing to take that bet of which will be a better game and it isn't the one from Gearbox. No VR. You mean like 96% of PS owners who have shown no interest in PSVR at all. Even when Sony has been practically giving it away they still don't buy into it. My brother's PSVR has been collecting dust for quite a while. I wouldn't doubt that is an uncommon scenario either with the device. Like those PS games it ends being a one done type of device for many. I would like to see real MAU numbers for PSVR. To bad Sony doesn't ever do that for VR. They do it for PS4 but, never PSVR. I wonder why? /s Kinect 2 is probably still more popular and used more often on Xbox One devices today then PSVR is on PS4.
  • And yet PS5 has 30% less graphical power, and no game pass, nor access to the many studio's under xbox studios, like RPG legends obsidian (ie there will be more console exclusives in the series x, than any prior xbox generation due to all the studios they now own). That said, MSFT has actually always dominated sit down gaming. Between PC gaming, and xbox, MSFT's platforms have far more market share than PS. MSFT's own studios make about 1/3 of MSFT's yearly revenue. How much does sony make from actually making it's own games? I don't even own a console, but this stuff is silly. There are more than enough AAA games to play on ANY of these platforms. If you like your PS, play your playstation. But nobody thinks that xbox is currently under bad leadership, or is likely to do badly.
  • Link where: " PS5 has 30% less graphical power" with benchmark. "PS5 has no game pass?"
    XB has no PSNow? "PS5 has no access to the many studio's under xbox studios"
    XB console has no access to the many studio's under SIE. "MSFT has actually always dominated sit down gaming. Between PC gaming, and xbox, MSFT's platforms have far more market share than PS. "
    What? "sit down gaming"?
    So do you have any proof of that? Last time I checked PSN active monthly user was at 103m, XBL monthly active user was around 65m and that number also included some android, steam, iOS and even switch gamers... "MSFT's own studios make about 1/3 of MSFT's yearly revenue"
    Do you have a link of that? "How much does sony make from actually making it's own games?"
    No idea, but Sony's games are very important in their business model which focuses on the popularity of their console. Their games contribute to that and it's difficult to measure. And this business model is actually profitable. (check finance statements for actual number) Can you tell me how much the XB made in profit or loss in 2018 or 2019? "But nobody thinks that xbox is currently under bad leadership, or is likely to do badly."
    Maybe YOU don't think that. I actually think that. Spencer has been a big part of the XB1 generation. I don't think he is that great to be honest. Also, I'm not sure the console will sell well just like how I predicted that the XB1 won't in 2013.
    At this stage, all we can do is take PROPER information, analyse it and make a prediction based on that.
    We'll just wait and see what happens.
  • I have even seen PC comparisons in the comments to support the idea that it won't be held back...thing is, this isn't just cpu and gpu clock speeds update. These new consoles are fundamentally different machines. Consider what having an ultra fast ssd means. If a dev decides to make a game with no loada screens what happens to the consoles that can't handle it? will they have to add some code and art for it? What about those enemies AI? How much smarter can they be in the new systems? What happens on the older? People need to think past the "oh, last gen this ran at 4k@30 so now it will at 4k@60" because this jump is way bigger than that. The very notion of scaling up and down means that something is lost in the process. How can people not realize this
  • Again, this has already been done very often this generation. Let's even ignore PC gaming altogether. Take a deep look at any Digital Foundry video analysis of any of the many ports to the Switch of games from the XBO/PS4. Games like Doom 2016 on the Switch run surprisingly well, much better than expected for the 'underpowered' console hardware of the Switch. There are ways to make compromises for weaker hardware. Load screen times etc. are directly proportional to the texture maps/density. Enemy AI can also be scaled back. There are all sorts of tricks developers can apply. Sure the version on the weaker console will not have equal aesthetic content as the top console, but if the games on the current XBO and PS4 are taken as the new baseline, that is not too bad for 7 year old consoles. Also see DF analysis of Gears 5 on XBO, XBX and PC ultra. It is simply about a new game development paradigm, which devs of AAA titles will eventually have no choice but to embrace as generational leaps shrink more and more. At some point, the difference between consecutive console generations will simply be somewhat marginal (basically law of diminishing returns), and they must make games for prior consoles because consumers will simply not be motivated enough to get the latest and greatest console from day one.
  • Everything is an opinion, not a truth.
  • It would be held back if there was no PS5.
  • Much ado about nothing. Statement is about exclusive titles, not about feature parity. This serves the purpose of reassuring gamers they won't be forced to immediately switch consoles to get the new MS Stuidio games. Which is great because a lot of OneX's and OneS's were sold on the back of those studio acquisition. It's also a statement for developers that the current gen will be supported for approximately a further 18 to 23 months. Nothing new here, happens every generation, move along.
  • This is by far the dumbest post. Just trying to get clicks I see.
  • I think the One X put an end to the whole debate. Even if early games are held back because they're being built to support One S and One X, it seems that there's a possible additional bonus: Updating older games to support the new hardware. One thing I loved about the One X is a lot of older games were updated to support the newer hardware. I wouldn't be surprised if we see something similar for the Series X.
  • The problem with console players is understanding the technology regarding X86 hardware and what it means. PC players are pretty knowledgeable regarding the technology. Games can be developed with Xbox Series X and then down-scaled to play on the less powerful system. Games developed on the less powerful systems can be upscale with additional graphics and resolution to play better on the Series X. Same as it is on PC. This is possible because both the Xbox One S and X and Series X operate on the same technology existing in PC's today. Take a moment and educate your selves. Stop listening to YOUTUBE video's misinformation, speculations and lies.
  • Cross gen isn't new, it's happened for the current and last generation as well. I don't understand why it's being talked about so much now. It was only interesting when the limited discussion of the topic implied that ALL Series X games would be cross compatible with the One, now that we know that isn't the case, it's just like any other console generation.
  • I really feel bad for whoever believed MS and bought a XB1x thinking there would be full support for more than just 1-2 years after the new console. It's crazy how just 2 years after the launch of Scorpio, it's now become the "has-been" console. We can just see how MS, MS fan site and MS/XB fans are covering and hyping the new console. I mean, we know that's how games like FIFA or COD operate. Huge amount of hype for the new version of a game but it becomes irrelevant a soon as the new version is just round the corner... Pathetic communication and misleading by the XB division of MS once again...
    They have done it so often, wait for after the holiday season to make such announcements...
  • I really feel bad for whoever believed MS and bought a XB1x thinking there would be full support for more than just 1-2 years after the new console. It's crazy how just 2 years after the launch of Scorpio, it's now become the "has-been" console. We can just see how MS, MS fan site and MS/XB fans are covering and hyping the new console. I mean, we know that's how games like FIFA or COD operate. Huge amount of hype for the new version of a game but it becomes irrelevant a soon as the new version is just round the corner... Pathetic communication and misleading once again by the XB division of MS...
    They have done it so often, waiting for after the holiday season to make this type of announcements...