The Xbox One X and all its impressive specs were built based on feedback received from developers who were working and would work on making games for the system, according to Microsoft. In an interview with Shacknews, Microsoft’s Albert Penello said that rather than just deciding on the specs they wanted, Microsoft actually worked towards the specs based on the feedback they were receiving from software developers, so that in essence, the system was ultimately tailored around the games that would be made for it in the future.
“We actually have a really great technology team that works with developers,” Penello said. “And what’s really, really interesting and unique about this console is that the specs were a result of working with software. It wasn’t just us saying, ‘this is the numbers we wanted to hit’. We actually profiled existing code, and we said if we want to hit 4K on existing engines, this is what it takes.”
Penello went on to speak about the role Forza Motorsport developers Turn 10 had in the process. “What Turn 10 is able to do is, they’re able to come in and they’re able to prototype- because they have this great engine on PC, because they create their assets in such high resolution. That’s what really gave us the confidence that these specs are what it takes to deliver on the promises that we’re making to customers.”
Penello was then asked if Microsoft gave much thought to future proofing the console, to which he said that once again, as a result of listening to the feedback they had received from developers, that was exactly what they did, going as far as adding an extra gig of RAM in the console. “More’s always better,” he said when the question of future proofing was posed to him. “In fact, we actually just gave a gig of RAM back to developers. We were originally going to do 8 gigs for developers. And to your point we were getting feedback that was like, ‘in a year or two, that extra gig of RAM is really gonna help us out.’ So we were like, ‘great, we’ll extend that’.”
“We give more memory to games on the Xbox One X than the other systems have in total,” Penello continued. “That’s including the operating system and all the other features. And that was one of the cases where we worked with developers to ask them what they need. And I think we are in the middle of a generation, and that’s what great about consoles. One platform- I keep turning the needle, I keep finding efficiencies. And by using a similar architecture between Xbox One S and Xbox One X, all those refinements work.
“So we think with both of these consoles- the work that you put into this one will make Xbox One S games better, and vice versa. So we think there’s a lot of longevity left in both consoles,” he finished.
This seems in line with what we’ve heard from all the game developers so far. Everyone, from Turn 10 to Ubisoft has been talking about how relatively easy it has been to develop for the One X, and it makes sense that that is as a result of Microsoft having actively worked with them on the system’s specs.
Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more updates.