Baldur's Gate 3 Boss Reveals: Xbox Series S Ignites a New Era of Gaming!

Highlights

Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke believes that the Xbox Series S is not holding back the current generation of consoles, despite its lower specs compared to the Series X.

Vincke suggests that the perceived disparity in specifications between the Series S and Series X has been overstated, stating that the Series S only demands additional development efforts from studios.

According to Vincke, a significant number of Xbox owners have opted for the Series S, and he perceives it to be no more challenging to accommodate than the less powerful Steam Deck.

According to Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke, the Xbox Series S is not hindering the current generation of consoles. Due to some complications encountered during the process of porting their upcoming RPG game to the Xbox Series S, Baldur's Gate 3 for Xbox is still awaiting a release date. While the Xbox Series S provides great value for its affordable price, some game developers have faced significant challenges in optimizing their games for its modest specifications. The Xbox Series S, with its 4 TFLOPS, is approximately three times less powerful than its counterpart, the Series X, which boasts 12.1 TFLOPS.

Vincke, the boss of Baldur's Gate 3, believes that the difference in specifications between the Xbox Series S and Series X has been exaggerated. In a recent interview with Skill Up, he dismissed the idea that the Xbox Series S is hindering gaming, stating that it simply requires development effort. As a CRPG-only studio, Larian is accustomed to ensuring that its games work on various configurations. Vincke sees the Xbox Series S as no more challenging to support than the Steam Deck, which is even less powerful. Larian has confirmed that it is working on making Baldur's Gate 3 compatible with the Steam Deck, although it may not have "Steam Deck Verified" status upon release.

During the same interview, Vincke revealed that the majority of current-generation Xbox owners have chosen the Series S over the Series X. Microsoft reported that the total sales of both systems reached 21 million units by late June. With Vincke's perspective taken into account, it suggests that the Series S has a significant user base in the millions. This differs greatly from the opinions of other experienced developers. In late 2022, a senior official from Rocksteady expressed concerns that the Xbox Series S could hinder the potential of this gaming generation. Such sentiments have been echoed since Microsoft introduced its latest consoles. While developer opinions on the matter vary, Vincke's positive assessment of the system carries weight as an independent developer, rather than coming from a Microsoft subsidiary like Bethesda or Tango Gameworks, both of whom have previously defended the console.