Xbox Series S Could Do This To Older Games

While it is true that Microsoft's Xbox Series S is not capable of playing Xbox One games using Xbox One X enhancements, it could double the frame rate of older games, according to a new report.

The latest information came from Xbox Series S System Architect Andrew Gooseen in an interview with Digital Foundry. According to Gooseen, developers can improve Xbox One titles on Microsoft's next-gen gaming consoles by changing three lines of code. It is now easier for existing Xbox One S titles to be updated to run with twice the frame-rate when played on the Xbox Series S, he revealed.

"When games are updated, existing games can query to determine whether they're running on the new console. And in terms of the performance, the Xbox Series S provides well over double the effective CPU and GPU performance over the Xbox One, making it pretty straightforward for the games to do this. And in fact, the Series S GPU runs the Xbox One S games with better performance than the Xbox One X."

Gooseen also revealed that no real performance tuning is needed to be able to do this. It is just as easy as changing the codes and the game works, he added. However, there are instances that titles may need more changes to properly run on the Xbox Series S at twice their frame rates.

But, these issues are easy to fix, according to the Xbox Series S system architect. The process is not automatic, but not all Xbox One titles could take advantage of this. Xbox Series S is Microsoft's all-digital disc-less gaming console. It costs $299 and is scheduled to arrive on November 10.

One of the main concerns of some gaming enthusiasts is that it is less powerful than the Xbox Series X, especially on its RAM capabilities. This concern was addressed by Director Of Xbox Program Management Jason Ronald in a recent interview with The Verge. "The reality is you don't need as much memory bandwidth because you're not loading the highest level MIP levels into memory," he explained. "You don't need the same amount of memory as well," Ronald added.