It’s no secret that many video game developers aren’t big fans of the Xbox Series S due to its weaker performance compared to other modern consoles. However, ex-Tekken director Katsuhiro Harada made his frustrations very clear during the Console Game Developers Conference in Korea, when he tore down the system in front of a Microsoft official.
“There’s something I really want to say while I have the floor,” Harada said (via Inven Global). “Since a senior Xbox official is actually in attendance here today, I wish hardware like the Xbox Series S wouldn’t be released (laughs).” For those unfamiliar with Harada, he was the face of Tekken for nearly two decades. He directed or produced every mainline series installment from Tekken 3 to Tekken 8, before leaving Bandai Namco late last year and starting VS Studio, a subsidiary of SNK. During his tenure at Bandai Namco, he became known for his outspoken personality.
“I want to ask Director Paweł [Sasko, associate game director on Cyberpunk 2077] personally — honestly, weren’t you upset inside because of Series S?” Harada continued. Sasko tactfully responded that “It constantly throws challenges at us and forces us to optimize our code very cleanly.”
However, Harada wasn’t done. “You just used a very polite and elegant way to say ‘Xbox Series S sucks,’ right? Low memory is an issue, but the hardest part is that it’s a device so similar to Series X while having awkwardly lower performance. When porting to Switch 2, developers can shift their mindset to ‘Switch 2 is a distinct device for Nintendo fans!’ But with Xbox, after delivering your absolute best output, it feels like having to do extra work for a slightly weaker child.”
Sasko acknowledged the Series S’ technical drawbacks while arguing for the positives. “Intensely optimizing for lower-spec platforms definitely brings the benefit of making the game run significantly better across all platforms,” he said.
“And the biggest advantage of Series S is that its affordable price makes it accessible,” Paweł added. “Not every gamer can buy expensive high-end hardware, so from a developer’s perspective, even if the strict constraints are painful, there is a silver lining in expanding market penetration to deliver the game to more players.”
Harada wasn’t quite appeased. “Director Paweł packaged Series S so gracefully that the Microsoft representative in the audience keeps nodding along. I’m worried they’ll feel reassured and release a successor like ‘Helix S’ for the next-gen Xbox as well (laughs).”
The Project Helix question
Harada raises an interesting point about Xbox’s next console, codenamed Project Helix. It isn’t clear whether Microsoft intends to release a cheaper, lower-performance version of it, as it did with the Xbox Series S. Frankly, the company may not have much choice. According to early speculation, the ongoing hardware component crisis and RAM shortage could make the Helix exceedingly expensive, with reports claiming it could cost Microsoft between $1,200 and $1,800 to make.
While it’s understandable why Harada doesn’t enjoy optimizing games for the Xbox Series S, given that the base Helix could cost more than a grand, Microsoft may choose to release a cheaper, lower-spec option to be able to reach more consumers.
