Xbox Series S games are all the rage thanks to Microsoft making more memory available for the console.
The small but mighty Xbox Series S is a great option if you don’t want to spend a lot on an Xbox Series X right now. It might not be that powerful, but with the launch of Xbox Cloud Gaming, hardware specs aren’t everything anymore. And now, Microsoft’s Game Development Kit (GDK) update is giving the console a much-needed performance boost.
“Hundreds of additional megabytes of memory are now available to Xbox Series S developers. This gives developers more control over memory, which can improve graphics performance under constrained memory conditions,” reads the video update, which you can see below.
release the beast
Xbox Series S memory restrictions are something that has been pissing developers off for some time now. Digital Foundry (opens in new tab) (through On the edge (opens in new tab)) revealed that “a number of developers” felt that the console “has been a little boring at times”.
It’s not a CPU or GPU power issue as per the anecdote. Memory constraints are to blame. That’s why some gamers may have noticed a disparity between third-party and third-party games on Xbox Series S in the past – which triggered the Digital Foundry feedback to begin with.
Microsoft has also improved performance for graphics allocations. The result of this is that Xbox Series S games can “better take advantage of” the console’s various recent memory enhancements. And it will not negatively affect graphics performance.
There are some other updates and features being released alongside this. The company’s platforms will now enforce age restrictions on DLC, for example. Age-restricted accounts will be notified for parental consent in the new API.
You can check out the key differences between the Xbox Series X and the Xbox Series S if you’re wondering whether to wait for the more expensive and harder-to-find Xbox Series X. Between ongoing firmware updates and the Xbox Game Pass family plan – finally confirmed by Xbox – you can upgrade to the current-gen console and save a bundle. Without feeling like you’re getting the lite experience.
