We've seen plenty on how the Xbox Series X and PS5 versions of Grand Theft Auto V stack up, but what about Series S? Initial comparisons showed it needed some work, and now Digital Foundry has weighed in.
And, yep, it looks like they've come to much the same conclusion. The Xbox Series S suffers worse framerate drops than its big brother, but at a much lower resolution. In summary, the outlet says the results are "disappointing".
The Xbox Series S version also lacks features compared to Series X and PS5. There's no ray-tracing of any kind, in fidelity or performance mode, which is a much-touted next-gen feature.
We understand why the Series S can't quite hit the same performance levels in modern games as the Series X - it's much less powerful. However, this is a 2013 game with its roots in Xbox 360-era tech, and we can't help but feel that Rockstar could have squeezed a bit more out of the digital-only Xbox.
How do you think the Series S has fared? Could Rockstar have done more? Let us know below.
[source eurogamer.net]
Comments 19
Another example of the developer not optimizing and a patch coming in a month to step it up bunch?
@uptownsoul if a patch doesn't come out of fixing it you could be correct....but everytime that the series s had a poor version it was due to optimization that was fixed with a patch. This thing is still more powerful than most PC's being used out on the market isn't it? Clearly not a power issue.
One X & PS4 pro owners got screwed because they never released a performance patch for those consoles
The CPU in the Series S is very powerful and not far removed from the Series X. The other components are significantly downgraded in relation. I'm not a game developer so I don't which ones hold back the S for definite. I suspect it's the GPU (4tflops vs 12 tflops on X)and reduced memory bandwidth & capacity.
That being said I love mine to bits and I'm hopeful that it'll more than enough for most games for the next 3 years at least. I can see an upgrade in my future though.
I honestly think it would help if Microsoft released sales #s. They wouldn’t keep making the series s and after thought if they knew how much of a potential fan base they had. No it’s not 100% on the developers @uptownsoul but most of the time when the fan base complains there’s a patch and “magically” it’s optimized much better. Clearly some developers just don’t see the value in taking the time to optimize for it so it’s an after thought and we get these poor ports.
It has to be bad optimization. When some games can hit the mark and some can't, it's gotta be devs, right? I mean fh5 looks and runs great on a series s, but an upgraded port of a 9yr+ old game can't..
Has there been any reason given to why the Xbox upgrade costs twice as much as the PlayStation one? I’ve not really seen this discussed as the conversations been mostly about how this is the bare minimum of a game being released for the third/fourth time?
For Rockstar to not be able to get a locked 60fps out of any of these consoles is a bit of a joke, on PC 60fps is easily achieved on pretty modest hardware by today's standards, I think I could technically do it using the integrated graphics on my CPU. They must have been too busy thinking of how to fleece their suckers, sorry customers some more
@Bleachedsmiles I believe its because the online part is free with Playstation at the moment and Rockstar are calculating that as half of the cost for some reason despite being monetised to death
But @uptownsoul that proves our point lol. Bad optimization. Lowering draw distance, texture quality, and resolution should be a given considering the S is aimed for 1080p TVs. The developers aren’t taken the time to go that most of the time is what we are saying. That’s why you get random games having 1440p 30fps which makes absolutely no sense for the capabilities it has. Should easily be able to do 1080 60 for any game 4k 60 on the x.
Watch Dogs Legion had decent ray tracing even on series S. And ubisoft is not known for good optimization. Rockstar did a lazy job again.
Ram is the weakest component of the SS. GTA V having the same draw distance as the other consoles while having a heavily nerfed RAM will impact the FPS, since the rest of the components have to wait for the ram to finish putting everything in place. It's also why some forms of RT can't be implemented in SS porperly due to the low ram speed and capacity.
@raftos yes, and WDL is a newer game with more complexity than GTAV. For me, R* screwed it up with the draw distance and heavy use of particles.
Again goes back to my argument being correct that 2 different consoles at launch and mid gen upgrades never a good idea and ultimately leads to quality issues.
Should never do it.
@uptownsoul I'm not techy but I'm fully expecting a patch will fix this. Remember how dying light 2 was crap on the S because it was holding back gaming.... until they patched it and it no longer did?
All studious are struggling with development cuz of COVID work from home impacts and all that so yeah, optimization isn't exactly their top priority. For every dev that knocks the S another praises it. I feel like the S is an easy excuse for them to take.
It’s BS. Some games have great versions on the S. It’s lazy devs.
I have both an S and an X, live them both. The S is capable but a lot of these devs are just not giving it any real work.
All the talk about 'missing' features like Ray Traced Shadows is absolutely ridiculous!!! Ray Tracing in general is a 'more expensive' but more realistic way of handling 'light' in a scene - whether its 'just' Shadows, reflections etc or everything in the scene, its basically an 'upgrade', an enhancement to the visuals.
Its not as if the Series S is missing all shadows because the Series S, with a smaller and less GPU power than a PS4 Pro, is using a 'lower' visual setting for shadows.
Ray Tracing is Visual Setting - like 'draw distance/LoD', like resolution etc. RT Shadows could be 'Ultra' Shadows and the Series S uses the 'Very High' quality setting which uses more traditional way of doing shadows.
If you want the 'best' Visuals, you don't buy the weakest GPU on the market. Its a 20 Core GPU giving up to 4TF compute - a PS4 Pro has 4.2TF from 36 cores. Its the fact its 'faster that means it can handle more instructions per core per second, but its still a smaller GPU than a PS4 Pro.
Like I said, you haven't got RT shadows, but you do get shadows and its 'only' in direct comparison that you'll see what 'subtle' difference RT Shadows bring.
RT is 'game changing' - its a step up from older methods but its not as if the shadows, the reflections, GI etc really 'changes' the game. Its a 'visual' upgrade - like increasing the LoD's, or increasing the amount of Foliage. You are NOT missing features as you still get Shadows - albeit at a 'lower' visual quality setting....
Many developers don't like having to spend extra time optimizing for weak hardware. It's why most demanding multiplats skip the Switch, and why the Series S will continue to receive underwhelming console ports compared to the Series X and both PS5s.
Love my little Series S, but I've not really had any poor experiences with it. Seems decent for me & my 1080p TV. Maybe in a few years it might start being underpowered, but surely at that point MS' Cloud gaming might mitigate this issue.
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