^Stay tuned for Jim’s video op-ed on how good the Series S actually is.

There’s a pernicious hearsay going round that the common-or-garden Xbox Series S, the most affordable next-gen console available on the market, is one way or the other inflicting different, higher machines to be compromised with pointless framerate caps. Quite how the hearsay began is a little bit convoluted, however I’ve defined all within the accompanying video. And, look, right here’s the factor: it’s a load of garbage.

If something, if the Series S was chargeable for decreasing the general complexity of next-gen video games in comparison with what they might obtain had been it not an element, then the massive boy machines – it stands to cause – would have loads of headroom left over for efficiency boosts. But that’s not what’s occurring.

It actually isn’t occurring within the case of Gotham Knights, which kicked off this complete ridiculous mini-controversy by launching with none efficiency modes regardless of being next-gen unique. This is due, we’re advised, to the complexity of the sport… which was initially slated for PS4 and Xbox One, however these variations had been cancelled, and the sport we acquired feels decidedly final gen and may barely keep a steady framerate regardless. Go determine.

The Series S is a next-gen machine in all of the ways in which depend: particularly, its super-fast NVME storage and sturdy CPU, each of that are principally an identical to its greater brother, and on a par with the PS5 when it comes to uncooked numbers. It has a much less spectacular GPU and never as a lot RAM, however it is a compromise geared toward getting the value as little as doable with the concession that this machine is meant for use with last-generation tv screens and 1440p displays. It’s not alleged to compete with premium consoles and three-grand PCs, it’s alleged to be low-cost, cheerful, and “good enough” in your common person. Which it’s.

It additionally represents a major step up when it comes to the bottom spec of gaming {hardware} that individuals are inclined to have of their properties, particularly the bottom PS4, a workhorse machine which remains to be going robust as a result of numerous components (as explored within the above video) however is hamstrung by a gradual HDD and a lacklustre CPU: each of those are drag components which the subsequent gen machines, together with the Series S, are designed to negate.

With hundreds of thousands of customers nonetheless, for no matter cause, unable or unwilling to improve from the last-gen machine or low spec PC they’re at the moment rocking (to not point out machines just like the Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck), it appears churlish responsible the Series S for dragging down the minimal spec that studios need to cater for when, if something, it will look like pushing up the common.

Some builders really feel all the identical that Microsoft’s requirement to assist the Series S with each Xbox launch – stopping them from splitting the userbase – is cramping their fashion. But in the event that they’re that decided to artificially minimize their market in half, there’s nothing stopping them from making their video games unique to different platforms.

That’s capitalism, child. The freedom to decide on!