Back in 2020 when Microsoft announced the smaller, cheaper and less powerful Xbox Series S it guaranteed that all games would have feature parity between the two Xbox Series models.
If a feature was in a Series X game it would be available to those playing on the Series S albeit at lower resolutions and possibly frame rates.
Over the years many developers have voiced concerns about the lack of power offered by Series S and it’s effect on Xbox game development. But Microsoft stuck to their guarantee to buyers of the Series S that they would get the same games as those playing on Series X.
That has now changed.
Baldur’s Gate 3 will be the first game launched for the Xbox Series S|X that offers an inferior version on the Series S.
Local co-op will be an Xbox Series X exclusive feature and will not be available to those on Series S.
Developer Larian Studios say they came to an agreement with Xbox boss Phil Spencer to drop a feature for the Series S and allow the game to release on Xbox.
If Phil had stuck to the feature parity guarantee there would be no Baldur’s Gate 3 on Xbox at all.
This was a situation that was always going to arise given the performance gap between the Series X and Series S and it’s a problem that won’t simply go away for Microsoft.
It is very likely to be the first of many such examples of Series X exclusive features to come as we approach the mid-life point of the current generation.
There is going to be a lot of Series S owners out there that feel more than a little aggrieved over the current situation but it’s likely to remain a problem for the remainder of the generation.
There already isn’t feature parity, because the S doesn’t support the same video resolution and framerates as an X. Anyone who bought an S thinking it was just as powerful as an X didn’t do their homework. And yeah, MS is partially no blame for not making the distinction more clear.
I’m an S owner, of multiple units, because the consoles were cheaper and most of all actually available to purchase. I knew going in it was a lighter console. For what my family plays, that’s perfectly fine. We’re more of an indie game or older game house, with very little time spent on AAA games. Having multiple cheaper consoles vs 1 expensive one gives us more gaming options, including multiplayer if we want to. For me, the S is fine even if feature parity goes away.
And as far as multiplayer goes, split screen coop in a AAA game is pretty much a rarity anyway. Devs aren’t incentivized to optimize their code. They’re pushed to hit deadlines and make it work. Split screen exposes all the cut corners and poor performance code, so a lot of game devs won’t even bother.
It’s the right choice, in this circumstance. Drop the split screen for the S to get the game out there. They can always circle back later and add it back in, if time and money allows. Other games have proven it’s not impossible, and I’m sure BG3 devs -could- do it. They just need the time and resources, and it’s not worth holding up the X release for that.