The announcement of the Xbox Series S is perhaps the biggest surprise of the past week. The next-generation console will cost just $299 to the Xbox Series X's hefty $499 price point, but still promises next-gen performance at 1080p or 1440p resolutions. Clearly, at $200 cheaper Xbox fans understand that the Xbox Series S console will be limited in other significant ways. But something they likely didn't expect is that the Xbox Series S won't even be receiving the improvements made for the Xbox One X.
In a statement released from Microsoft, the company first clarifies that the Xbox Series S was designed to be "the most affordable next-generation console." That perhaps implies that past gen games weren't as much of a priority. To that effect, Microsft says that, "To deliver the highest quality backwards compatible experience consistent with the developer's original intent," the Xbox Series S will run the Xbox One S version of backward compatible games.
Microsoft does note that the Xbox Series S will apply "improved texture filtering, higher and move consistent frame rates, faster load times, and Auto HDR" as applicable. These performance improvements will vary widely from game to game and their's no guarantee that any given game will see such enhancements.
The Xbox One X is Microsoft's current mid-gen refresh console for the Xbox One generation. Considering the Xbox One often struggled with attaining even 1080p resolution at 30fps, the Xbox One X was a major leap forward in performance, offering native 4K resolution. Game developers often went out of their way to take advantage of this hardware by providing Xbox One X exclusive updates. To say these updates were often substantial would be an understatement, so it's quite a disappointment the Xbox Series S won't support them.
As disappointing as it may be to Xbox users, it's also quite understandable. The Xbox One X optimizations and improvements were all of them done by hand by each games' developer or a third-party studio. Further, they were made specifically for the Xbox One X hardware. For them to work on the Xbox Series S, developers would have to reoptimize the game entirely for the new hardware. The differences between the Xbox One X and the Xbox Series S are just too significant.
One detail that isn't clarified is whether or not there will be an effort to create Xbox Series S-specific optimizations for backward compatible Xbox One games. That may be out of the question, but it would likely mean a lot to those planning to pick up an Xbox Series S who still want to play some of their favorite Xbox One games.
The Xbox Series S launches November 10.
Source: Gamespew