Official Microsoft Wants to Know Why Devs Choose PS5 Over Xbox

SpartaN

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Microsoft is keen to hear from developers who are opting to release their games on the PS5 but not on the Xbox Series X|S. The company is overhauling its ‘Xbox Research’ division, which was originally focused on player experiences. Now, it wants to talk to the people behind games, and “address pain points.”

Microsoft says devs using PS5 will offer a ‘great perspective’ to the Xbox team​

Over the last year or so, an increasing amount of devs have become vocal about the challenges that Xbox Series S development poses, which they don’t have an option to escape because Microsoft mandates game releases on both the Series X and the inferior Series S.

There were also at least two cases over the last few months alone of devs publicly announcing that they are skipping Xbox because of Microsoft’s communication — or lack thereof — with smaller studios. With games either skipping Xbox entirely or being delayed on the platform, a common misconception is that Sony’s “moneyhatting” everything behind the scenes. But conspiracy theories only go so far, and perhaps, Microsoft sees the damage it’s causing.

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Yeah it’s sorta the chicken and the egg here.

Sony sells more consoles so more games are made exclusively for Sony. But more games are made for the system because more consoles are sold.

Xbox needs to do 2 things to compete right now.

  1. Remove the requirements to make games run on the series S. It’s holding back gaming due to its limits
  2. Pay dev to make their games for Xbox as well. The devs need a financial incentive to make games for Xbox
 
It's not just the big, graphically intense AAA games that are skipping Xbox. Even less demanding games aren't making their way to the platform, and it's not because the Series S can't handle them. In my opinion, these are the developers Xbox really needs to hear from. They probably already have direct lines of communication with the major developers and publishers.
 
It's not just the resolution, the severely outdated memory of the Series S is its weakest link. Things happening simultaneously in games requires memory, having to account for the memory limitations of Series S literally means less stuff can happen in your game.
 
feel like Xbox is also bad at predicting which games will do well. Like they went all for Starfield, and it ended up being fairly mediocre from what I've seen. However, they thought that BG3 was going to be a flop and pretty bad, when it ended up being a massive success