Microsoft has confirmed today that its $299 Xbox Series S console, the cheapest of the new consoles coming out, won’t run the best version of old games.
In the current generation first there was the Xbox One on its own, that was then followed by the Xbox One S and the Xbox One X. The ‘One S’ was essentially on the same level of power as the original Xbox One, just with 4K capability, while the ‘One X’ was a big jump in power (about four times more powerful).
Microsoft will soon launch the next generation which will start off retaining the split console format – a ‘Series S’ and a ‘Series X’. Both will be big improvements compared to the versions that came before – the ‘S’ improving on its predecessor by about 2.5x while the ‘X’ will be 2x its predecessor.
The new ‘S’ is going for much cheaper ($299 vs. X’s $499) but has only one third the power of the new ‘X’ and only two thirds that of the old ‘X’.
The ‘Series X’ will be scoring “Xbox One X Enhanced” versions of Xbox One & Xbox 360 games, meaning old titles from previous generations will be able to make use of the new console’s more powerful capabilities and render old games in up to 4K and doubling their frame rates from to 60 fps or 120 fps – all with no extra work required by developers. If developers offer an update, they can do even more graphical upgrades.
Today, VGC (via IGN) reports that the ‘Series S’ will NOT be getting such Enhanced versions of backwards compatible games. Instead, it will run the old Xbox One S versions of both Xbox One and Xbox 360 titles.
That’s not to say there won’t be improvements compared to the old ‘S’ – just that they will be less refined and fairly basic ones like more consistent frame rates, faster load times and Auto HDR as it aims to get games running at a steady 1440P and 60fps. Games that maybe struggled on the old Xbox One S could conceivably run noticeably smoother on this machine.
Both the ‘Series S’ and ‘Series X’ arrive on November 10th.
