A former Tekken director is coming out publicly to have a go at the Xbox Series S, arguing that the console is more of a liability for game developers than it is an asset for consumers. Katsuhiro Harada compared the Xbox Series S to a slightly weaker child that's only going to be an additional burden to deal with in a conversation with Microsoft executives. This kind of comment moves the conversation from one about marketing towards the real-world issues developers face when trying to support lower-end hardware, as seen from the perspective of the industry. This particular line of thought illustrates the push and pull between accessibility and development efficiency in today's console generation.
Harada argues budget console demands extra optimization effort from developers
The former director of the Tekken fighting game series, Katsuhiro Harada, weighed in on the architecture of the Xbox Series S. Harada himself aired his grievances about the Xbox Series S in front of a senior Xbox person. His comments imply that the limitations of the hardware are just more of a headache that game developers have to deal with when they want to optimize for that platform.
At the root of Harada's issues with the Xbox Series S is the performance difference between the Series S and the rest of the family. He compared the console to a slightly weaker child that takes a lot of effort to develop for. It seems like he's arguing that the decreased power of the hardware makes the developers invest more time in optimization, instead of adding more features.
The comments were made public via Insider Gaming's report on the matter. Apparently, Harada didn't mince his words when it came to the Xbox Series S hardware. According to the source text, these comments were made in a professional context in the presence of senior Microsoft folks.
However, the source text doesn't divulge more about the meeting or the specific person that was in the room. The article is mainly concerned with Harada's personal impressions of developing for this specific model of console.
In any case, Harada's comments are a testament to how hardware considerations affect the game development process. The Xbox Series S remains a bit of an outlier in the current generation as the "budget" option. This makes it a point of contention in the development process from the perspective of industry insiders like Harada.
Source: Insider Gaming
Discussion
0 comments