Xbox Series S Development Challenges: An Insight from Larian Studios CEO

The CEO of Larian Studios, Swen Vincke, asserts that the Xbox Series S is not hampering the current gaming generation, despite his team encountering issues while porting their upcoming RPG title to the console. The Xbox version of Baldur's Gate 3 is awaiting a release date due to these challenges, possibly inciting criticism towards the Xbox Series S's restricted specifications. However, Vincke dismisses these criticisms as exaggerated, maintaining that the Microsoft console simply "requires development effort."

The Xbox Series S, the cost-effective companion to the Xbox Series X, potentially offers developers an exceptional return on investment. Despite its approximate 4 TFLOPS output, considerably lower than the Series X's 12.1 TFLOPS, the Series S has been popular among consumers due to its worth for its price. However, the relatively limited technical specifications can prove to be a sizeable development challenge for studios attempting to target the platform, as experienced by Larian Studios.

In his recent interaction with Skill Up, Vincke outright refuted the assumption that the Series S was hindering the gaming industry. As Larian was initially a CRPG-only studio, Vincke emphasized the company's experience in ensuring their games' compatibility across various configurations. Thus, he does not necessarily see the Xbox Series S being more taxing to support than something like the Steam Deck, a device less powerful than Microsoft's budget-friendly current-gen console.

During his interview, Vincke also disclosed that a significant portion of the current-gen Xbox community purchased the Series S in preference over the Series X. As per Microsoft's statement in June, total sales of the two systems amounted to 21 million units, a figure which aligns with Vincke's insights and suggests that sales of the Series S might be substantial.

While some veteran developers express apprehension about the potential of the Xbox Series S to limit this generation of gaming, Vincke's encouraging perspective offers a refreshing perspective from an independent developer, as opposed to Microsoft subsidiaries such as Bethesda or Tango Gameworks, which have previously defended the console.