The Xbox Series X Is 'At The End Of The Beginning', Says Phil Spencer

I think we have all felt the slow pace of the start of this generation.

It seems we will be overloaded with new releases in the next six months. Almost like when a clog in a pipe is cleared and water gushes out before slowing down again.

I’d suggest the industry tries to spread things out so we don’t have another drought in the future but they clearly want to make some sales in the here and now.

With games like Starfield, BG3, Avatar and Spider-Man 2 it also feels like we really starting to leave last gen behind as well.

They can settle into the hardware all they want. At the end of the day Xbox has 3 SKUs at two performance levels that not only allows, but requires, the budget product hold back their premium product. So it'll never be quite as well off as Playstation's idea of keeping everything uniform.

Devs releasing low quality ports of ps5 Games

@InterceptorAlpha Given that all of the games on Xbox always release on PCs running on a wide spectrum of hardware the whole argument on Xbox side is just a little hopeless. Any game releasing as an Xbox exclusive is also on PC and every single time those games run on GPUs from 2015ish up to state-of-the-art GPUs? Over the past couple years many games have released running on X as well as they run on PS5 or better. The visual fidelity of titles such as Forza etc also shows that potential of X is in no shape held back by S. IMO it is still only 2 SKUs because the storage size has no effect on game development.
The whole idea on Sony's side, that having PS5 as a uniform system is putting them ahead is also debatable. Every PS5 "exclusive" also eventually releases on PC these days, once again running on a whole range of hardware. The Ratchet and Clank game that was supposedly "only possible" on PS5's super fast SSD is apparently playable on a PC with a hard drive. I still fail to see that S is holding anything back in terms of features, scale etc of games. The incident with BG3 is an isolated case in one company. Dozens upon dozens of games have been released using S, X and PS5 to the best of each console's ability.

Unless there is something really compelling to make the next console relevant then there is no reason to create a better mousetrap and it is refreshing for Phil to say so.

@BrilliantBill

Given that all of the games on Xbox always release on PCs running on a wide spectrum of hardware the whole argument on Xbox side is just a little hopeless.

Please elaborate. As a PC gamer myself, games are generally released with a very narrow set of targeted hardware. Exceptions being if it is old or not very intense. For example, the PC requirements for Starfield are greater than the hardware the Series X has.

Over the past couple years many games have released running on X as well as they run on PS5 or better.

The past years releases have been mostly cross gen releases so your point is moot. Of course stuff built for hardware from 2013 would work well on modern hardware.

The visual fidelity of titles such as Forza etc also shows that potential of X is in no shape held back by S.

Very poor example as GT7 still looks better in many regards than Forza.

The whole idea on Sony's side, that having PS5 as a uniform system is putting them ahead is also debatable. Every PS5 "exclusive" also eventually releases on PC these days, once again running on a whole range of hardware.

You're debating against a fact that has been proven for multiple generations. Amd I'm scratching my head for any PS5 releases that hit PC.

The Ratchet and Clank game that was supposedly "only possible" on PS5's super fast SSD is apparently playable on a PC with a hard drive.

Again, poor arguing point. There are countless games on Xbox that require the SSD despite running fine off an HDD on PC.

I still fail to see that S is holding anything back in terms of features, scale etc of games. The incident with BG3 is an isolated case in one company. Dozens upon dozens of games have been released using S, X and PS5 to the best of each console's ability.

I'm sorry you're ignoring news then. This is far from an isolated instance as multiple developers have spoken out against the S.

@InterceptorAlpha the ps4 had two consoles last Gen and did great. The Xbox One actually had 3. They'll be fine.

@Mendax I can’t wait for console warriors to go the way of the dodo.

@TBwonder neither launched two consoles at two different performance levels. And when both did their mid-gen consoles, neither mandated if the One X or PS4 Pro had a feature, the Xbox One and PS4 had to have it too. Which is exactly what Microsoft is doing this generation which is the issue.

As a matter of fact, the One X and PS4 Pro were touted as having more features as a way to encourage people to buy up.

Meanwhile, this generation Microsoft is mandating the S receive all the same features as the X despite being a budget, entry level, console.

Could you imagine if Kawasaki said "The Ninja 1000 can't have a full color dash, abs, angled TCS, and launch control because the Ninja 250 doesn't have it"?

And to add, the base PS4 which outperformed the Xbox One at every turn. While the PS4 was running a significant portion of games at 1080p, Xbox was struggling often settling somewhere between 720p and 900p.

So I'm not quite sure your point.

@InterceptorAlpha finally someone who actually understands what's going on! People are so quick to just claim the Xbox series s is the worst console ever and that it's holding back the current generation. That can't be the furthest from the truth, the thing holding back the current generation is cross-gen games and the last generation consoles. As developers get more used to these new consoles we will start to see more games utilizing the power of the Xbox series x as well as the Xbox series s. I'm personally looking forward to starfield on my Xbox series s LOL and the haters, most of them don't even own a series s or have ever even played on the console itself. If they did, they know first hand the console is actually impressive for its price point.

There will be a mid-gen xbox. They just can’t talk about it a year in advance because it could slow down the sales of the series x/s since some people would wait for the new one.

@BrilliantBill You cannot see it because you are thinking like a fan boy. The developers themselves said that the series s is holding back the generation and here you are making up narratives.

I am not going to lie and say i don’t want a more powerful Xbox to come along in 2 years. I am not ready to say we for sure wont get one, but it does look more and more likely it’s going to be the S/X going forward and teach dev’s to better use the hardware. MS is in a position of power here tho. Guys and girls… they have over 30 studios in house. Let me repeat that, over 30 in house studios. If MS can put out stunning games on the S/X within all those studios in the next 2-3 years, there is no reason why 3rd party dev’s can’t learn from that and deliver great looking games. I get it PS5 has 1 SkU, likely soon to be 2 SKU’s with the PS5 Pro. Throw in the fact PS5 outsells Xbox and you’d ask me why would 3rd party teams care to make better performing games for the platforms. Cause Xbox has shown they are not going away and actively looking to buy teams that fit their needs and take interest in their platforms and vision. You want the next 3, 4 , 8 10 billion dollar check to be owned by MS. You need to be a quality studio for the platform and not give half a**ed ports and performance when MS internal teams show what can be done. Make no mistake Sony don’t have 4-10 billion to give anyone. So even tho i want a more powerful Xbox. I think this will be the plan going forward and leveraging PC for players that are truly power hungry. Most gamers and for sure casuals can’t even tell 30 from 60fps. Only we can and demand it.

@Chaotic_Goat I think phils answer would be more vague if this was the case. He's basically said that the x was the 'pro' console this gen it just shipped alongside s, I really don't see a reason for another upgrade from Xbox next year

If Sony do release a ‘pro’ console, (I’m not sold on it happening nor think it is needed) Microsoft will follow suit. They would have to. They couldn’t let Sony have a far more powerful console.

As much as people say Xbox don’t need consoles because of gp play anywhere etc. currently it is still needed. But it also creates a big headache for MS and devs because you have over 50% of your ecosystem (by most estimates) on a series S. then games have to be created for a pro the X and by that point the S would look much weaker.

With Microsoft turning it’s Xbox Series X into a £450 advetising box, I won’t be buying another Xbox that’s for damn sure. I’ll stick to Nintendo, maybe PlayStation too.

Beginning of the end.

@Aimergamer I think you mean "some" or "a few" developers. Many more clearly have had no significant issues at all, which is evidenced by the fact they are actually releasing games that run fine on the Series S with feature parity. You can't just use the narrative from a few devs to try to prove a point and assume that all other devs agree just because they haven't said anything at all.

That being said, I think the biggest mistake they made with the S is too little RAM.

@S1ayeR74 That's quiet funny considering the vast majority of PS5 1st and 3rd party games available are held back for PS4 compatibility. Sony still hasn't dropped PS4 whereas MS has dropped last gen.
Look at how many of next year's games are for PS4 and 5 compared with the few that are PS5 only.
The PS4 is clearly holding back 3rd party current gen development.

Where as the Series s is at the beginning of the end

@S-Bacc That’s very sound logic but I don’t think the average gamer/consumer is going to think like that. People want the latest technology and the best games and aren’t necessarily thinking 3-5 years into the future. Even if I knew back in 2020 that there would be a PS5 pro model releasing in 4 years and PS4 would still be supported right through to 2024 I still would have gone ahead with my day one purchase. My digital library is built up on PS ecosystem and just because I can play most of these games on my PS4 doesn’t mean I don’t want to leverage the PS5 power to play those games with better visuals and performance.

The best thing Xbox can do to prepare for next gen is start pumping out regular bangers for the rest of this one so more people buy into the ecosystem. Even then though for all its merits gamepass is kind of shooting Xbox in the foot with regards to digital libraries. I have bought one game on my Series X in the year I have owned it whereas I have countless games purchased on PS. For that reason next gen I am going to be buying PS first because I can play my games without paying monthly subscription.

@BrilliantBill digital foundry already proved that running ratchet on a ps4 wouldn't work by using a ps4 hd on a pc,it breaks the game to the point that its unplayable

@S-Bacc like I said I’m unsure on it happening.

Xbox also has relatively few current gen games. Both are suffering from it.

My point was that IF Sony do release one. It pushes Microsoft to have to release one as well. And a pro console makes life more difficult for MS than Sony, due to already having the S and the X.

@tallythwack Yes, you are right and my analysis with R&C on hard drives is wrong. but again, using single games like R&C and BG3 is not ideal because they are extreme examples, in R&C a feature in the game is purposefully built with the SSD in mind. Meanwhile in BG3 we have a case of a single developer struggling to create this feature parity. The fact that one or the other developer struggles with getting something working is not proof that the whole idea of Series S is wrong or is ruining this generation. Back in 360 era I remember Crysis 2 often hitting 19fps in busy scenes, nobody used that to invalidate 360 as a console for example.

This is why they should have just done the Sony approach and release a Series X with and without a disc drive.

Release the disc Series X at $499 as it did.
Release the disc less Series X at $299

Same SKU except one has a disc and the other doesn't. This satisifies people who need their disc drives and getting a series x at $299 is an insane deal for new Xbox users and people who don't care about the disc drive which leads into more Gamepass sales.

@BrilliantBill if the series s and ps4 arent left behind soon, this generation will be over ,and all we would have had from the ps5 and series x ,would be increased resolutions and better fps ,id prefer they used that extra power for better npc ai ,im sure those lightning fast hard drives, could be used in more innovative ways ,than just shorter load times,ms was quick enough to let go of the one x ,its time to let the series s die.

Sigh... "priority storage on series s" Phil Phil Phil... why you do us like this??? ps5 Pro coming and microsoft decides to improve storage on the console that's holding xbox back. What they should be doing is binning the series s off altogether, or at the very least not enforcing support for series s on developers, not encouraging more to buy it. They are never going to be able to create games the series x is capable of when developers have to create everything to run on the potato that is the series s. It's like a 3rd of the power, barely an advancement on last gen and should be looking to phase it out, but no. The series X is more powerful than the ps5 so a ps5 Pro may just level that playing field, as i dont imagine there being too much of an improvement. But whilst the series s is still being endorsed, this will be sony's Gen. They have just put the nail in the coffin, stupid short sighted business decision, oh Phil... sigh. In a few years when I'm looking at the games Sony can make and I'm still playing a sort of crossover between last gen and what should be the current gen I will be forced to go and buy a playstation and use my series x as a door stop as its essentially a series s whilst the s exists. Heart broken. Hopefully everyone will start boycotting the series s (both editions) and force Microsofts hand

Personally games that even now are being developed for last and current gen they should just stop last gen now. Focus on the current gen. Last gen is now 10 years old. It's had it's life. Some great games but they will just hold games back.

This is good to hear. It's become too much like PC with the fast hardware iterations where devs just decide to no optimize, and not design the game for hardware people own and just brute force a "vision" and wait for people to buy next year's hardware for it to run almost right. Lock them in so they have no choice but to refine around what's out there and everyone wins except the silicon mfrs.

@AnonymousJ Unfortunately the decision to bin the S should have been taken before it was released, now it's a large chunk of their playerbase.

They have the money to buy them all back, but just imagine that chaos

@InterceptorAlpha
In which ways does GT7 look better than the upcoming Forza?

@Yarec123
The S is more than capable system at a killer price point. I used the S for the past couple of years and had little to no issues with it. That being said I am enjoying my upgrade to the X

@Sifi Rubbish, also PS5 has had games only available on next gen from first and third party. Xbox screwed the pooch with its latest update, showed its true colours where it is heading. It’s hilarious to claim the PS4 of all things is holding back development, no, the 2 years of lockdown did that.
Oh and a few games on XSX are also on XBOne still.

@ZuneTattooGuy
To the contrary. Developers are having issues getting games for current gen only to run on series s... Baldurs Gate 3 being exhibit A. Only reason most games are working on series s is because they're not really current gen. There still last gen, hence why most of them still have ps4 and xbox one versions. Such a small list of games support ray tracing even despite that being around for a while now and the current gen consoles being around for years now. But the series s will struggle when they stop making last gen games. Just annoying were paying £20 more for an X/S version of the same game on xbox one with minimal upgrades. Half the issue is the reluctance to leave the last gen behind. Developers aren't going to make 2 completely different games for 2 different gens, they will produce for the previous gen and then just up the res of textures etc which is massively holding back progression.

@AnonymousJ
You didn't address how is it possible for BG3 to run on the steam deck but not on the Xbox Series S.

The steamdeck is a 1.6 teraflop capable machine (basically 1.5x the Switch) and the Xbox Series S can do 4 teraflops of computing.

Xbox One & PS4 generation will not be over until Next Gen arrives.

I mean, does it matter? I thought we were all just supposed to play Starfield until our hearts stop beating. That's what I plan on, anyway.

@ZuneTattooGuy

Good legitimate point... i dont know for certain but...Hmm well the same features that are causing the issues for series s have been left out on the steam deck too. Split screen has also been left out for instance (for obvious reasons with the screensize too . Steam desk has more RAM and is running a much lower resolution too. I feel the same way about the steam deck as the series s though

@AnonymousJ
Maybe the official port for the Steam Deck but it can run in local co-op
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXOAMwDODNA

And it doesn't look crazy bad or hurting its performance much. So I am confused again why they couldn't get local co-op running on the Series S?

@PushButtons
Microsoft has already stated they are no longer making Xbox One games.

https://www.purexbox.com/news/2023/06/xboxs-internal-teams-are-no-longer-making-games-for-xbox-one-confirms-exec

@ZuneTattooGuy I know MS has stopped developing for Xbox One but thats not the case for 3rd party devs. EA and other companies will continue to do so as long as ppl are buying them. Thatll be next generation.

Hi, I'm a Ps fan, but recently I was thinking of buying a Xbox series for myself. The choice would be the series S, cheaper, for me it would be perfect. I´m not a Xbox expert, but now with this news of parity issues between consoles, and all this talk about the specs, I'm going to wait a little longer (maybe a year), and buy a series X. I think Microsoft didn't think long term with the series S, they just wanted to form a big base of gamers for this generation.
It´s not just the split screen (which I like, but this is a non issue for me, because I'm going to buy BG3 on the PS5), but there will be more and more complex games in the market in the future, and with so many Series S sold, this is going to become a bigger problem for Microsoft and the Series S users in the future.
I'm not saying that I wouldn't have enjoyed it if I had bought the Series S, there are amazing games on the console, but I'm glad I waited.

When a console plays games maxed out 4k and 60fps then they can relax.devs should not be held back upwards n onwards

Also known as the beginning of the end.

@ZuneTattooGuy steam deck runs couch co-op? I mean that is the issue with the S.

@Fatboyscotty No relaxing at 4K60 please. It's merely a stepping stone to 4K120.

I like how xbox is true to their slogan "WHEN EVERYBODY PLAYS WE ALL WIN". The whole series S situation is a testament to that. Here we are sitting in first world countries discussing 4k@120fps, where the most popular console in some third-world countries is still from two generations ago (PS3 X360). I think it is a pro consumer move to have a much more affordable option and mandate developers to make games for it.
it is lost on some people that Xbox have been the good guys for many years now.

They needed to make this generation have more add-on or upgrades i.e. the SSD. Old console always had expansion ports for things. You can always use the USB but it has limits.