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Xbox Series S was 'annoying to optimize for,' Suicide Squad developer says (or doesn't)

Draugoth

Gold Member
Update, clickbait article:

The developer in question tweeted this:





xboxseries-s-s10j5yol5y5w.png

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League artist, Del Walker, speaking quite openly about his experiences with the Xbox Series S.

"I wish the Series S never existed, man. So annoying to optimize for that console - I expect we'll unfortunately see more game launches get skipped by Xbox in the future," Walker said on Twitter.

"No need to get triggered by my personal experience - I just DO NOT like having to optimize current gen games for that console and I wish it never existed. Xbox Series X is an amazing piece of hardware though; fantastic console."

Source
 
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MiguelItUp

Member
I mean, I'm sure to some degree it's annoying, but I doubt it's THAT big of an issue. You have the X and the S, two different models and you're trying to get the best out of both. But then you have test both builds, which will surely have different bugs because of hardware differences, and then you have to cert both. So, I get it. But in my experience, I feel like developing for PC has been more annoying than any console because of the amount of varying hardware possibilities.
 
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FeralEcho

Member
WIt's always the devs with awful games complaining.
Yeah,that Larian is so awful

said no one,ever lol

But then again Rocksteady made a worse looking game than Arkham Knoght 9 years later on more powerful systems so

the wolf of wall street idgaf GIF


what they have to say! They'll be dead or sold by the end of the year. This isn't the Rocksteady that built their name through talent in the gaming industry a decade ago. These are the hacks who tarnished it.
 
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It's always the devs with awful games complaining.
I mean Balders gate and WuKong have had similar problems and those games were pretty damn good 🤷‍♂️

Didn't care to even try suicide squad myself but this complaint isn't a one off


Edit: Looks like in this particular case it was clickbait from the post above. Regardless, my point still stands. People can complain about optimization all they want but there is clearly some issue with the Series S. The whole concept of that console was stupid when it was announced and is even worse in hindsight
 
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ShaiKhulud1989

Gold Member
Defense force is in full swing already, but id Software engineer said same exact thing prior to Series S release and his tweets were taken down by the Papa Xbox.

That Rocksteady guy just said the quiet part out loud. That RAM limitation is too apparent in 2024 and because of the platform size optimization costs simply not worth it for more and more developers. It’s cheaper to skip Xbox all together than to sunk extra millions and cut your vision along the way to fit a game onto MS’ Compromise Box.

There’s also a fact that platform is basically dead outside of Anglo-sphere and most recent hits are made in Asia that could not care less about Microsoft ecosystem in general.
 
Defense force is in full swing already, but id Software engineer said same exact thing prior to Series S release and his tweets were taken down by the Papa Xbox.

That Rocksteady guy just said the quiet part out loud. That RAM limitation is too apparent in 2024 and because of the platform size optimization costs simply not worth it for more and more developers. It’s cheaper to skip Xbox all together than to sunk extra millions and cut your vision along the way to fit a game onto MS’ Compromise Box.

There’s also a fact that platform is basically dead outside of Anglo-sphere and most recent hits are made in Asia that could not care less about Microsoft ecosystem in general.
See it as Dark Souls of game development.

Devs work on it, they cry about it.

Then they get gud, level up, are able to squeeze best out of all systems.

Its a win win.

Switch 2 will be thankful to Series S if it starts getting 3rd party ports.
 
I think really S has one biggest problem is less RAM/VRAM.
Unlike Switch docked/portable mode which uses same hardware (but underclocked) on S you can't just lower the resolution or frame rate but use lower quality assets, and much different graphics settings to reduce RAM/VRAM consumption. Sounds like pain in the ass.
 

Mownoc

Member
Ram is probably the most annoying constraint for developers, so yeah. A system with 10gb of ram (2gb of which is slow ram) is going to be annoying to work with for a AAA title in 2024.
 
I mean, I'm sure to some degree it's annoying, but I doubt it's THAT big of an issue. You have the X and the S, two different models and you're trying to get the best out of both. But then you have test both builds, which will surely have different bugs because of hardware differences, and then you have to cert both. So, I get it. But in my experience, I feel like developing for PC has been more annoying than any console because of the amount of varying hardware possibilities.
It is objectively a big issue. Developers have delayed the release of their game on Xbox Series due to that model. Some important features have being removed on XSS because of this.
 
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Laptop1991

Member
Not an Xbox gamer but isn't the S better than the Xbox one and 360, which had a lot better games made for them than his Suicide Squad game, not really a good excuse for making a poor game really.
 

Mr Hyde

Member
I wonder how Series X owners feels when games skip Xbox because the Series S is such a nightmare to develop for? They bought a 500 dollar console and are now getting penalized because of a lesser console they never wanted or cared for. I would be pissed at Microsoft and Phil for not dropping parity between S & X. It's a poor strategy that has backfired spectacularly.
 

Astray

Member
Defense force is in full swing already, but id Software engineer said same exact thing prior to Series S release and his tweets were taken down by the Papa Xbox.
That was genuinely hilarious. All these engineers who shit on the system on spec announcement, then deleted their tweets once the Zenimax acquisition was completed.

Are these fake? Seen these floating on twitter.

Or is he just against the headline about suicide squad developer said?
Tweets are real, he's complaining about the headline.

Suicide Squad was "annoying to play", Xbox Series S owner says.
Grilled Chicken GIF by PeepsEnt

Grilled chicken was "delicious", NeoGaf user says.
 

Elios83

Member
Are people still pretending that developers don't hate Series S and they don't feel forced to develop for it?
The console was just a mistake. It was an attempt to try to get the casual/mainstream market on-board immediately and subscribe to Gamepass thanks to the low price.
But people are not interested in gimped products and they're not even interested in Gamepass like they expected.
What is left is a turd hardware that will create issues for developers for years and will create many more Baldur's Gate 3/Black Myth Wukong like situations in the future.
 
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MiguelItUp

Member
It is objectively a big issue. Developers have delayed the release of their game on Xbox Series due to that model. Some important features have being removed on XSS because of this.
Yeah, big is pretty subjective here. It just all depends on the size of the team, other deadlines, etc. It makes sense. Yeah, I mean, if they have deadlines and things have to be cut to make ends meet, then so be it.

I always thought it was cool that Microsoft was going the route of trying to give fans choices, which is a good thing. But it sucks that it has to be an annoyance at all. But it's understandable.
 
I get the criticisms on the S, but at least be some acclaimed dev, like the ID Software dev who deleted his tweet after the MS acquisition, Larian when they delayed Baldur's Gate 3, or even part of a team which has had recent success like when the unnamed Wukong dev said that, but Suicide Squad?

Bruh, your entire game's existence was nuked pre-launch and are compared with Concord for DAU numbers. Sit your fuckin' 60 Metacritic ass down, you clown.

And yes, this is no defense of criticism, the S is harder and more resource consuming to develop for, especially among third parties and when your installed base is less than half of the leading console in current generation.
 

Three

Gold Member
Lol, the article got nuked. Imagine being this openly dishonest, and people still can't quite bring themselves to question games "journalism".

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. A dev made a comment that they hated the Series S, a "journalist" looked at previous posts to see the dev had worked on Suicide Squad, made an article. I don't think it was dishonesty but it is still garbage journalism. Unfortunately those who have some hatred for specific games love eating this garbage.

Bruh, your entire game's existence was nuked pre-launch and are compared with Concord for DAU numbers. Sit your fuckin' 60 Metacritic ass down, you clown.

And yes, this is no defense of criticism, the S is harder and more resource consuming to develop for, especially among third parties and when your installed base is less than half of the leading console in current generation.

The person, who doesn't own Suicide Squid the game franchise, has made more than 1 Game and isn't working on Suicide Squad currently. Some games with metacritic scores in the 90s. Just because he worked on SS doesn't mean his work wasn't competent. Suicide Squad was technically competent in terms of optimisation.
 
But is true. The only thing he called clickbait is the fact that they tried to call him a Suicide Squad dev in the title when he isn't working on Suicide Squad when he made very recent comments that optimisation on Series S is annoying and wished it didn't exist.
I guess he goes back to being elitist trash then. The millions of economically and ecologically responsible consumers who own an Xbox Series S will continue being enriched by the broad library of quality experiences available for it :messenger_clapping:
 
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