Over the past few years – but particularly during recent times – we have seen an increasing number of discussions surrounding Microsoft’s lower-powered current gen console: the Xbox Series S. Previously described by one dev as “annoying to optimize for,” the team behind the upcoming DUNE Awakening Survival MMO have shared similar grievances with the Xbox Series S, calling it a “challenge.”
In an interview conducted during Gamescom (and reported on by VG247), Scott Junior – the chief product officer at Funcom – explained why the upcoming Survival MMO will be launching first on PC, saying:
“So, it's one of the reasons we're coming out on PC first. There's a lot of optimisations we need to do before we release on the Xbox. But yeah, Xbox Series S is a challenge.”
That said, the team appear confident that they’ll get DUNE Awakening running well on all platforms, with Junior adding: “But it will still perform well on hardware that's years and years old. We'll be able to do it!”
As mentioned, the Xbox Series S has been the topic of many discussions surrounding the current struggles of game development, with titles such as Baldur’s Gate 3, Black Myth: Wukong and the upcoming Kingdom Come: Deliverance II all seemingly being impacted in one way or another by the limitations of the Series S.
Still, as we’ve seen, the Series S can offer a compelling package as long as the game has been properly optimised and developed with the hardware in mind. It’ll be interesting to see how lower-specced PCs will wind up handling DUNE Awakening – and how it’ll compare to the Series S release.
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KitGuru says: What do you think of this statement? Is the Series S holding the industry back? Let us know your thoughts down below.