NEWS · GAMES
PUBLISHEDMarch 22, 2021
READING1 min
Remedy: Xbox Series S optimization is much harder than some gamers think
Remedy communications director Thomas Puha has explained why optimizing games for the Xbox Series S is a complex process, despite the budget console's appeal.
In a recent interview with IGN, Remedy communications director Thomas Puha weighed in on the rumors and speculation surrounding Microsoft's cheaper Xbox Series S.
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The situation with the Xbox Series S is no different from previous console generations. The lowest-spec system ends up setting the baseline because you have to make the game work on it, right? It's easy to say, 'Just lower the resolution and texture quality and you're good to go,' but it's nowhere near that simple.
When you say it like that, it certainly sounds great, but every game engine is built differently. It's one thing when gamers say, 'This engine does all these cool things!' Well, it depends. Is your engine more GPU-bound or CPU-bound? What are you pushing harder? In Control, we try to push both chips to the limit because we have a lot of physics, but also plenty of ray-tracing effects. That makes a huge difference on the Xbox Series S, because its APU's GPU component is significantly weaker than the one in the more powerful console.
That said, Puha noted that the Xbox Series S's relatively low price point lowers the barrier to entry for current-gen console gaming. Remedy definitely appreciates this, even if it complicates development by requiring significantly more resources to optimize games across all available platforms.
