It's no secret that the Xbox Series S is not the easiest console to optimize games for, but never has a developer openly spoken out against the system in such a negative way. That is until Del Walker, a former Naughty Dog and Rocksteady developer, took to Twitter to air out his grievances against Microsoft's budget next-generation console.

In response to a thread outlining the week in news for Xbox, including Indiana Jones and the Great Circle coming to PS5 and Avowed being 30 frames per second, Walker wished that the Series S wasn't a thing. No, really.

I wish the Series S never existed, man. So annoying to optimize for that console - I expect we'll unfortunately see more game launches get skipped by Xbox in the future.

That's not exactly a ringing endorsement for the Series S and is potentially a sentiment that is shared by other developers, though they have yet to speak out in the same way. It's important to note that, contrary to popular belief, Walker did not have a hand in optimizing Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League for the Series S, so it's unclear exactly which titles he had a hand in.

This is some premium click-bait, considering I wasn't even around for the Suicide Squad series S optimization pass - but I guess you guys need content 🤷🏾‍♂️ https://t.co/ThWhhiqvYo

— Del Walker 🇵🇸 (@TheCartelDel) August 24, 2024

Back in 2021, the Communications Director for Remedy, Thomas Puha, noted that Series S optimization isn't as easy as it sounds. In an interview, Puha shared the following:

"Xbox Series S, well, it's no different from the previous generations where the system with the lowest specs does end up dictating a few of the things that you're gonna do, because you're gonna have to run on that system, right? It's very easy to say that you just lower your resolution and texture quality and off you go, it's just nowhere near that simple."

Elsewhere, the struggles of getting Baldur's Gate 3 on the Series S were widely reported in the leadup to its launch. Microsoft even went as far as to dispatch its own team of engineers to assist Larian.

In the end, however, it's less likely that devs actually "hate" the Series S so much as they are annoyed with having to make their visions work on a high-end system, as well as a budget system. Game development isn't easy, and timelines and budgets have been stretched thin, so it's likely a case of overall frustration. It's a good thing that there is an affordable entry-level next-generation system, though it's unfortunate it's out at the same time as hardware beasts.

Posted: Aug 28, 2024 9:45 pm
Related Forum: Xbox Forum

Source: https://www.thegamer.com/ex-naughty-dog-rocksteady-dev-wishes-the-xbox-series-s-never-existed-game-optimization/