Former Tekken boss Katsuhiro Harada has criticized the performance of the Xbox Series S, jokingly asking Microsoft not to make another console like it in the next generation. Open complaints about the weaker hardware by game developers have been rare for some time. It was a major topic of discussion before the launch of the console in November 2020, and it gradually faded as more studios got used to dealing with it, despite some fairly recent cases such as Baldur’s Gate 3 and Black Myth: Wukong. Harada is known for his decades long work on Tekken, and he is now the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of VS Studio after leaving Bandai Namco.
He spoke at a panel held on Monday at the Console Game Developers Conference 2026 in Seoul, South Korea, in the presence of a senior Xbox official. According to a transcript by Inven Global, Harada said that he wished hardware like the Xbox Series S would not be released, and he asked Paweł Sasko, Associate Game Director of Cyberpunk 2077 at CD Projekt RED, whether the console had upset him. Sasko laughed and said that it constantly throws challenges at the team and forces it to optimize its code very cleanly. Harada said that low memory is an issue, but that the hardest part is a device so similar to the Series X that has awkwardly lower performance, and that after delivering a best result developers feel that they have to do extra work for a slightly weaker child.
Harada added that in markets such as the United States there are more Series S users than Series X users, so developers cannot cut corners, yet after launch the owners of the Series S direct their complaints at developers and not at Microsoft, asking why the texture resolution is lower only on that console. He contrasted it with the Switch 2, where developers can treat it as a distinct device for Nintendo fans. Sasko agreed that Harada speaks a lot of truth, and he said that players do not fully understand the technical context behind fewer characters on screen or downgraded visuals. He added that optimizing for lower spec platforms improves the game on all platforms, including the PlayStation 5, high end PCs and handhelds such as the Steam Deck and ROG Ally.
Sasko said that with version 2.5 of Cyberpunk 2077, the team applied optimization gains that it had made while preparing the Switch 2 launch title, which took a team of 80 to 100 people over a year, to all other platforms with great effect. He called the affordable price of the Series S its biggest advantage, since not every gamer can buy expensive high end hardware, and he said that expanding market penetration is a silver lining despite the strict constraints. Harada joked that he was worried Microsoft would feel reassured and release a successor named Helix S for the next generation Xbox. Other developers have said similar things, since DICE said that the limits of the Series S made Battlefield 6 a better game, but the console has not boosted the sales of Microsoft as it hoped, and it remains to be seen whether the company plans two versions for Project Helix.
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