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[AlexxKidd]

Larian is having trouble fitting Baldur's Gate III on the Xbox Series S, the lower-priced and lower-powered console in Microsoft's ninth-generation lineup. Microsoft requires all games to run, feature-complete and without changes in quality or mechanics, on both the Xbox Series X and Series S. With Baldur's Gate III, this parity rule means the game will be console-exclusive to the PS5 for four months, at least.

"MANY developers have been sitting in meetings for the past year desperately trying to get Series S launch requirements dropped," Bossa Studios VFX artist Ian Maclure tweeted at the time. "Studios have been through one development cycle where Series S turned out to be an albatross around the neck of production, and now that games are firmly being developed with new consoles in mind, teams do not want to repeat the process."

Rocksteady senior character technical artist Lee Devonald similarly tweeted about his experience building Gotham Knights — a game that shipped on consoles with a framerate locked at 30 fps and no performance mode. According to Gamerant, Devonald said that multiplatform developers had to "optimize for the lowest performer," and, "we have a current-gen console that's not much better than a last gen one," referencing the Xbox Series S.

"[An] entire generation of games, hamstrung by that potato," Devonald tweeted.

Source:

Why Baldur’s Gate III is an accidental PS5 console exclusive

Larian is having trouble fitting Baldur’s Gate III on the Xbox Series S, the lower-priced and lower-powered console in Microsoft’s ninth-generation lineup. Microsoft requires games to run equally on the Xbox Series X and Series S. With Baldur’s Gate III, this parity rule means the game will be...

www.engadget.com

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Such a terrible decision by Phil

Just really bad strategy and thought leadership on his part that’s going to hamstring this gen

 

[diffusionx]

It is incredibly fortuitous for Sony that a huge, well-reviewed, highly anticipated PC RPG is coming exclusively to their console a few days within the launch release of Microsoft's huge, (hopefully) well-reviewed, highly anticipated PC RPG is coming exclusively to Xbox.

 

[Klosshufvud]

I don't mind a lower specced model to keep these devs in check. If Rockstar was able to pull off RDR2 on an Xbone, then the Gotham Knight devs have no excuse for their complete failure on current-gen only systems.

 

[Gaiff]

Yep. PS5 players who would have been tempted by Starfield and be potential customers might just find Baldur's Gate III to their liking. I know they're very different games but you can only play so many 200+ hours RPGs at once.

 

[Nankatsu]

Nice competition Microsoft gave Sony to battle with Starfield.

Big brain Phil momento.

 

[Three]

Such a terrible decision by Phil

Just really bad strategy and thought leadership on his part that’s going to hamstring this gen

Don't worry, Phil's strategy will benefit MS. It will probably be to buy the studio and the next release will remove splitscreen or anything the Series S can't do and not be multiplatform to boot.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

I think that by now, everyone on GAF knows why that is the case.

 

[Hendrick's]

Developers really like to bitch and moan about extra work don't they? Many games come out and play great on the S. That said, I do think MS should relax the parity clause and allow some features to be cut.

 

[Captain Toad]

I'm glad someone had the balls to choose to keep their game off a platform rather than downgrade it for everyone to satisfy the LCD.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Developers really like to bitch and moan about extra work don't they? Many games come out and play great on the S. That said, I do think MS should relax the parity clause and allow some features to be cut.

I mean, the software productivity company should be doing a good job making their jobs easier with how time consuming and expensive games are to make. We all wave those pom poms when (insert favorite exec) PRs it. Especially Phillip.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Baldur's Gate 3 vs Starfield is the real fight. An unexpected major AAA RPG exclusive by accident, thanks to Microsoft, will compete with it's uncertain as of today big release. Then there's the hammer of the PS5 sale and impending tent pole Spider-man. Oof.

 

[Elder Legend]

While I think Series S is a great machine initially for its price, it was a mistake releasing it day 1. What they should of done is waited 2 to 3 years and just lowered the price on Series X or release something similar like the Project Q for cloud gaming similar to what Sony is doing. By having Series S as the lowest denominator SKU that developers and publishers are forced to release Xbox titles for...Microsoft really ended up shooting themselves in the foot.

 

[t_wilson01]

I don't mind a lower specced model to keep these devs in check.

That makes absolutely no sense. Why not just force devs to work on 8-bit consoles? That will really show them who's the boss.

I really don't understand the need to make excuses for bad design decisions.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Don't worry, Phil's strategy will benefit MS. It will probably be to buy the studio and the next release will remove splitscreen or anything the Series S can't do and not be multiplatform to boot.

Seems like a theme

Create self inflicted problem through years of terrible strategy and management

Buy the solution to the problem on the market

Microsoft are the New York Mets of gaming

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Such a terrible decision by Phil

Just really bad strategy and thought leadership on his part that’s going to hamstring this gen

I have to wonder how the conversation went about with their 3rd party partners when they let them know that they'll need to start developing and offer feature parity on two wildly different Xbox SKUs instead of the old and tried one SKU.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

Series S was a mistake, but at this point, it's the Xbox console people should have.
It's the one that you'll get your money's worth. Series X will never be fully utilized.

It's time to buy in on the Xbox anchor that's sinking this generation for xbox and some multiplats.

 

[Klosshufvud]

That makes absolutely no sense. Why not just force devs to work on 8-bit consoles? That will really show them who's the boss.

I really don't understand the need to make excuses for bad design decisions.

What a hyperbolic interpretation. Series S is obviously still a fairly strong console and absolutely a good upgrade from the base PS4 and Xbone. We got some visually spectacular games on those consoles and yet devs are going nowhere with these new consoles. We have games like Jedi Survivor that dip sub 720p trying to keep a 60 fps on a PS5. Or FF16 that is 720p and unstable 60 fps on a PS5. That is unacceptable and IMO the more you raise the baseline, the more shortcuts are taken in development. The best performing current gen games have been those available on past gen systems aswell.

 

[KaiserBecks]

It’s a small studio that doesn’t have the time nor the manpower to pull this off simultaneously. A friend of mine is playing the game without problems on his ancient (gtx1060) PC. Typical clickbait.

 

[DeepEnigma]

It’s a small studio that doesn’t have the time nor the manpower to pull this off simultaneously. A friend of mine is playing the game without problems on his ancient (gtx1060) PC. Typical clickbait.

It's a RAM issue. Not clickbait. I bet your friend is not rocking 8GB of total RAM added up since you need more than that as min-spec on the PC.

That card alone is 6GB, and I can guarantee he is no less than 8GB of system RAM.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

It’s a small studio that doesn’t have the time nor the manpower to pull this off simultaneously. A friend of mine is playing the game without problems on his ancient (gtx1060) PC. Typical clickbait.

It's so easy to have this play on weak hardware that they had troubles with the Series S.

 

[Kilau]

While I think Series S is a great machine initially for its price, it was a mistake releasing it day 1. What they should have done is waited 2 to 3 years and just lowered the price on Series X or release something similar like the Project Q for cloud gaming similar to what Sony is doing. By having Series S as the lowest denominator SKU that developers and publishers are forced to release Xbox titles for...Microsoft really ended up shooting themselves in the foot.

You don’t launch your Pro system first and base years later, when does the gen even start?!?

 

[onQ123]

But it was still needed for Xbox Series to even be here this generation .

 

[Daneel Elijah]

It is incredibly fortuitous for Sony that a huge, well-reviewed, highly anticipated PC RPG is coming exclusively to their console a few days within the launch release of Microsoft's huge, (hopefully) well-reviewed, highly anticipated PC RPG is coming exclusively to Xbox.

And for free! Microsoft is even right now helping them making the game better so that it is well optimised when it launches in Playstation in a few weeks.

 

[Elder Legend]

You don’t launch your Pro system first and base years later, when does the gen even start?!?

Huh? What I am saying is, Series S should never have been a base system period. They should have lowered the price of Series X 2 to 3 years later post release. Then made a and released a cloud dedicated device like Project Q. That's it.

 

[diffusionx]

Seems like a theme

Create self inflicted problem through years of terrible strategy and management

Buy the solution to the problem on the market

Microsoft are the New York Mets of gaming

ugh....

 

[Perrott]

I don't mind a lower specced model to keep these devs in check. If Rockstar was able to pull off RDR2 on an Xbone, then the Gotham Knight devs have no excuse for their complete failure on current-gen only systems.

What the fuck are you talking about? The Xbox One wasn't comparable to a Series S at all, because everything that the power differences amounted to in comparison with the PS4 was that XOne games ranged from 720p to 1080p, while PS4 was in between 900p and (more often than not) 1080p.

Had Microsoft released a 0.78TF, 6GB DDR3 device last gen, only then we'd be talking about anything comparable to the pain in the ass that the Series S is to Series X/PS5 game development.

And Red Dead Redemption 2 wouldn't have been possible on such machine.

 

[SlimySnake]

"MANY developers have been sitting in meetings for the past year desperately trying to get Series S launch requirements dropped," Bossa Studios VFX artist Ian Maclure tweeted at the time. "Studios have been through one development cycle where Series S turned out to be an albatross around the neck of production, and now that games are firmly being developed with new consoles in mind, teams do not want to repeat the process."

Rocksteady senior character technical artist Lee Devonald similarly tweeted about his experience building Gotham Knights — a game that shipped on consoles with a framerate locked at 30 fps and no performance mode. According to Gamerant, Devonald said that multiplatform developers had to "optimize for the lowest performer," and, "we have a current-gen console that's not much better than a last gen one," referencing the Xbox Series S.

"[An] entire generation of games, hamstrung by that potato," Devonald tweeted.

Jesus Christ.

 

[DeepEnigma]

"MANY developers have been sitting in meetings for the past year desperately trying to get Series S launch requirements dropped,"

There it is. POS box for 2023 and beyond hampering design phases for games due to the parity clause.

They sure do want to "disrupt the industry."

 

[Kilau]

Huh? What I am saying is, Series S should never have been a base system period. They should have lowered the price of Series X 2 to 3 years later post release. Then made an and released a cloud dedicated device like Project Q. That's it.

I get it, I was joking. The whole notion of the S being the base and the X launched at the same time as Pro system is crazy to me.

 

[Codes 208]

I find it funny how sony’s answer to the xbox series S (bringing the ps4 back) was essentially the better choice compared to MS making a xbox one x with no disk drive and slapping next gen on it

 

[Vox Machina]

You don’t launch your Pro system first and base years later, when does the gen even start?!?

Everyone knows console gens only really start when the "Pro" versions come out. But at that point they're being held back by the regular versions

 

[DeepEnigma]

Everyone knows console gens only really start when the "Pro" versions come out. But at that point they're being held back by the regular versions

 

[Spukc]

Such a terrible decision by Phil

Just really bad strategy and thought leadership on his part that’s going to hamstring this gen

Nah good call it would kill the series S the casual-box

 

[Captain Toad]

Baldur's Gate 3 vs Starfield is the real fight. An unexpected major AAA RPG exclusive by accident, thanks to Microsoft, will compete with it's uncertain as of today big release. Then there's the hammer of the PS5 sale and impending tent pole Spider-man. Oof.

Two games that were both originally set to launch on both platforms.

 

[Venom Snake]

 

[Fbh]

Hopefully cases like this force MS to reconsider their parity stance.
I could also see games in the future just launching with fewer features on Series X, and devs can just say "we couldn't get this feature to run on the S and MS demands parity so we've just it from the Series X as well"

I don't mind a lower specced model to keep these devs in check. If Rockstar was able to pull off RDR2 on an Xbone, then the Gotham Knight devs have no excuse for their complete failure on current-gen only systems.

That's not entirely fair though.
Rockstar works on a different level than almost everyone else in the industry. When you know your game will sell in the dozens of millions of units and you've got a massive money maker called GTA online running in the background you can really take your time and hire some of the best talent in the industry.

This is like asking why everyone else isn't given a lot of time and money to make movies with amazing CG like James Cameron

 

[Captain Toad]

Everyone knows console gens only really start when the "Pro" versions come out. But at that point they're being held back by the regular versions

Even an Xbox Series X Pro would have to account for the Series S.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Even an Xbox Series X Pro would have to account for the Series S.

So would the SX2 if it launches in 2026. Can't just leave all them multiple S boxes in households on here behind.

 

[Klosshufvud]

What the fuck are you talking about? The Xbox One wasn't comparable to a Series S at all, because everything that the power differences amounted to in comparison with the PS4 was that XOne games ranged from 720p to 1080p, while PS4 was in between 900p and (more often than not) 1080p.

Had Microsoft released a 0.78TF, 6GB DDR3 device last gen, only then we'd be talking about anything comparable to the pain in the ass that the Series S is to Series X/PS5 game development.

And Red Dead Redemption 2 wouldn't have been possible on such machine.

I'm saying the most impressive games in terms of pure graphics/performance are still last gen games on current gen hardware. That is a huge failure on the part of current-gen only devs.

 

[twilo99]

Yep. PS5 players who would have been tempted by Starfield and be potential customers might just find Baldur's Gate III to their liking. I know they're very different games but you can only play so many 200+ hours RPGs at once.

Absolutely, they are practically the same game.

 

[Gaiff]

Absolutely, they are practically the same game.

Being a smartass only works if what you're making fun of isn't blatantly addressed.

 

[twilo99]

Being a smartass only works if what you're making fun of isn't blatantly addressed.

ah, shit..

 

[KaiserBecks]

It's a RAM issue. Not clickbait. I bet your friend is not rocking 8GB of total RAM added up since you need more than that as min-spec on the PC.

That card alone is 6GB, and I can guarantee he is no less than 8GB of system RAM.

My guess is 8GB + the 6gb vram but I’d have to ask him. Game needs optimization and it’s a small studio, big deal. When Rogue Legacy 2 launched on Xbox first, the narrative here was that it must have been moneyhatted even though the developers themselves confirmed that they simply didn’t have enough manpower to focus on multiple systems….in the case of bg3 of course it must be the fault of the series s. It’s holding everybody back even though forza horizon alone should have proven that that’s bullshit.

 

[twilo99]

This would be a huge oversight if the xss can't do split screen because of it's memory allocation..

Is there a another game that has split screen that runs on it?

edit. ah, forza horizon of course.

 

[AlphaMale]

At this rate, wouldn't it just make more sense for Microsoft to ditch hardware and just be a game developer and producer? They could make maximum dollars off PS5 sales, rather than dancing around exclusivity and killing their profits.

 

[DeepEnigma]

My guess is 8GB + the 6gb vram but I’d have to ask him. Game needs optimization and it’s a small studio, big deal. When Rogue Legacy 2 launched on Xbox first, the narrative here was that it must have been moneyhatted even though the developers themselves confirmed that they simply didn’t have enough manpower to focus on multiple systems….in the case of bg3 of course it must be the fault of the series s. It’s holding everybody back even though forza horizon alone should have proven that that’s bullshit.

Forza Horizon is a cross-gen game.

This would be a huge oversight if the xss can't do split screen because of it's memory allocation..

Is there a another game that has split screen that runs on it?

edit. ah, forza horizon of course.

Again, another bullshit comparison. A cross-gen game that does not have seamless drop in and drop out at any time or any point.

 

[jroc74]

Uh oh. Now there are article about it coming out.

 

[Riky]

Baldur's Gate 3 Lead Says Xbox Series S Isn't Holding Back Current-Gen

Swen Vincke likened developing for the Xbox Series S to minimum spec PCs and the Nintendo Switch.

www.thegamer.com

"Larian Studios CEO and Baldur's Gate 3 creative lead Swen Vincke says that "the platform is perfectly fine".

"Do I think it holds [gaming] back?" Vincke said in an interview with Skill Up. "It just defines certain parameters within which you have to develop. There are ways of doing that - it just takes development effort [...] Despite us having grown, we don't have infinite resources. That means we can't do everything at the same time."

Looks like more a question of resources.

 

[twilo99]

Forza Horizon is a cross-gen game.


Again, another bullshit comparison. A cross-gen game that does not have seamless drop in and drop out at any time or any point.

What do you mean by drop in/out?

"cross-gen" means nothing really.. they could've told us that it isn't, and we would have to go with that. What makes BG3 "next gen" exactly?