Technically speaking, Xbox Series S is an underpowered gaming machine compared to the Xbox Series X. Over the years, a number of developers have expressed their concerns about developing on the console and reaching optimum levels of performance with their games. So, when a technically demanding game like GTA 6 is scheduled to be released on the console, it obviously raises questions about whether it will be able to handle it.
However, Take-Two chairman and CEO Strauss Zelnick believes that Xbox Series S’ weaker hardware won’t be a problem for running Grand Theft Auto 6. In Take-Two’s recent earnings call, he stated that Take-Two and its publishing labels have always supported the platforms where they have an audience, regardless of the varying levels of technology they may sport.
“Look, we support the platforms where the consumers are for as long as they’re there, and we find a way to support platforms despite different levels of tech,” Zelnick stated (via VGC).
Zelnick stressed that he is not worried about any potential performance issues on the Xbox Series S, stating that as long as the end product is good, audiences will flock to it. “Our labels are really good at that,” he said. “I’m not really worried. I’ve never worried about where hardware was going. And I’ve said this many times over the years because, first of all, I don’t worry about things over which I have zero control. Secondly, I believe in the audience. The audience is going to show up if you have great properties, and so we just have to make sure to be on an array of platforms.”
As mentioned previously, the Xbox Series S is a challenging platform for various developers. For instance, Alan Wake 2 developer Remedy Entertainment found the console’s memory and GPU to be an “issue” and acknowledged that the best way to experience the game’s graphics is on a high-end hardware. The Xbox Series S version of Baldur’s Gate 3 was only able to run optimally on the console after the developer found a way to reduce usage of VRAM by 34%. That, meanwhile, was only after the game’s Xbox release was delayed to the the Xbox Series S’ limitations. All in all, it has not been a straightforward process for developers to get their games working on Microsoft’s less powerful console.
Zelnick;s statements should help to assuage any concerns that Xbox Series S players may have about GTA 6’s performance, however. It remains to be seen how well the game is optimized, but given that Rockstar are masters of optimizing their games across console generations, the Xbox Series S version of Grand Theft Auto 6 will hopefully not face any significant issues.
Grand Theft Auto 6 is set to release on the PS5, Xbox Series X/S in Fall of 2025. Whether it makes that release window is something that remains to be seen, especially given Rockstar’s history of delays, but according to Zelnick, the team is confident about achieving that goal.
For more on GTA 6, check out our video below, where we discuss the game’s graphics and whether its realism may be an issue for its players.
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