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Microsoft shifts focus to Xbox Series S / X, bidding farewell to Xbox One games
Microsoft has made a decisive move away from the Xbox One, halting the development of first-party games for the previous console generation. In an interview with Axios, Xbox Game Studios chief Matt Booty confirmed the shift, stating, “We’ve moved on to Gen 9,” referring to the Xbox Series S / X generation.
While Microsoft will continue to provide support for Xbox One hardware and games like Minecraft, no new titles will be developed internally for the Xbox One. Instead, Microsoft has been gradually transitioning to Xbox Cloud Gaming, offering games like Microsoft Flight Simulator to existing Xbox One users.
The recent Xbox Games Showcase did not feature any first-party games that would run natively on the Xbox One. Booty explained that Microsoft plans to maintain support for Xbox One users through its Xbox Cloud Gaming infrastructure. “That’s how we’re going to maintain support,” he affirmed.
Microsoft’s game developers are now primarily focused on creating games for the Xbox Series S / X consoles. Despite some developers requesting Microsoft to drop mandatory Xbox Series S compatibility for the latest games, the company remains committed to supporting both consoles.
With its increased GPU power and 16GB of RAM, the Xbox Series X outperforms its smaller counterpart, the Xbox Series S, which offers only 10GB of RAM. Developers have faced challenges due to these memory constraints, but Microsoft has worked to enhance the graphics performance of the Xbox Series S and allocate more memory for developers to utilize.
Booty acknowledged the additional work required to develop games for the Xbox Series S but highlighted that Microsoft’s own Xbox game studios have successfully maximized performance in their latest titles. In response to concerns about the limited 512GB storage capacity of the base Xbox Series S, Microsoft announced a black 1TB version during its showcase.
Acknowledging the struggles of the Xbox One generation, Xbox chief Phil Spencer recently admitted that Microsoft “lost the worst generation to lose.” The Xbox Series X / S represents the company’s endeavor to bounce back after a relatively quiet year for Xbox releases in 2022. The Xbox Games Showcase offered a glimpse into a substantial number of first-party games slated for release on Xbox consoles in 2023 and 2024, promising a bright future for Xbox gamers.
