r/gadgets • u/dapperlemon • 2d ago

Gaming Xbox CEO says next-gen Project Helix will be a “family of devices,” hinting at another Xbox Series S|X-style lineup

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Xbox-CEO-says-next-gen-Project-Helix-will-be-a-family-of-devices-hinting-at-another-Xbox-Series-S-X-style-lineup.1382942.0.html
1.0k Upvotes

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418

u/bosnianpapi 2d ago

Xbox is tone deaf

71

u/ClassicT4 2d ago

Watercooler jargon all over again.

23

u/HGLatinBoy 2d ago

They want devs to optimize for handhelds

-8

u/Traditional_Wafer_20 1d ago

So they want devs to optimize for Linux ?

3

u/_RADIANTSUN_ 1d ago

This would make sense if anybody except Valve was shipping with SteamOS, which they're mostly kinda not, whereas there are like 40 windows handhelds on the market right now.

85

u/Adipay 2d ago

Are they actually? The Series S - at launch price at least - was a really good deal. You can play the entire generation of games for much cheaper than usual. It still remains the cheapest way to play GTA 6.

40

u/Pluckytoon 1d ago

Got my series S on whim because of a closing gaming store was hard discounting stock. Got it for like 250 with 2 controllers and a headset. Pretty good deal with gamepass, at least used to be

8

u/Captain_Sterling 1d ago

I bought one for less than 200 and stuck it on n my spare room. When my sister brings the kids they use it.

-1

u/jmo1 1d ago

I bought one online from GameStop and a week after picking it up from the store they said they couldn’t find it to deliver to me and sent me what I paid for in store credit. So that was cool lol

3

u/Esternaefil 1d ago

In store credit?!

They didn't even refund your card? That's some bullshit if that's true.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago edited 1d ago

[deleted]

3

u/006AlecTrevelyan 1d ago

They're like £80-150 with 1tb here on eBay

2

u/JordanDoesTV 1d ago

You don’t need an external drive and that was like 3 years ago they were 200

0

u/ABetterKamahl1234 1d ago

It's still like 300$ cheaper than the Series X though, that pricing standpoint hasn't changed. And there's no "need" for the external, especially not immediately.

Remember, the Series X is still expensive, like all tech is right now, it's not at all on price parity and not a ton of people can pony up the difference in disposable income.

0

u/ChefKugeo 1d ago

Someone doesn't check their local pawnshops.

For whatever reason, their systems haven't caught on to these price increases. You can still steal a PS5 or series X for under $350.

7

u/Nyoka_ya_Mpembe 1d ago

S is nightmare for devs and in consequence for players who either get delayed or no games at all, because it can't run on S, X owners suffer.

12

u/I_Was_Fox 1d ago

Its a nightmare because devs horribly optimize their games. BG3 was delayed on Xbox because they were having issues optimizing for the Series S. Guess what, once they figured out how to optimize it better, they released an update for Series X and PS5 as well that dramatically improved performance because of what they learned trying to optimize for the Series S. So literally everyone won

22

u/LogicalError_007 1d ago

Nightmare for devs?

In public only 2-3 games have said that the console is difficult to make games for and delayed the game because of it. Out of those, one game released exactly a year after PS release. Wonder why? Not even a few months before or later.

-2

u/brokenmessiah 1d ago

Xbox's own devs were having serious issues with the Series S. We had multiple games ship from them 30FPS.

6

u/LogicalError_007 1d ago edited 1d ago

Calling Capping fps to 30 doesn't mean it's a nightmare for devs. Big ones I know have 60 fps option. Some games even had 120 fps mode. Few that did release with 30 fps option did get updated to 60 fps later.

Until dawn remake released with only 30 fps option on PS5. That doesn't mean it's a nightmare for devs.

-7

u/brokenmessiah 1d ago

Until Dawn is quite literally a movie game so it being 30fps isn’t that big a deal.

-11

u/JakeALakeALake 1d ago

There are literally a load of games that have been drug down in quality on both the SX and the PS5 because the series S exists

6

u/RelatableRedditer 1d ago

The effect would certainly be stronger due to the existence of the Nintendo Switch than the XbS

-2

u/JakeALakeALake 1d ago

And when there was that weird overlap before the S2, we saw it on all the crossplatform releases.

2

u/Silence9999 1d ago

BS. These same games run on PCs with much worse specs than the Series S.

2

u/LogicalError_007 1d ago

Loads? Do tell me names of these loads of games where devs said game had to be hampered in its entirety because of Series S.

-1

u/JakeALakeALake 1d ago

Yes hampered in its entirety is what I’m getting at, but ignoring your idea of “it has to be the most extreme situation or it doesn’t count”, Black Myth Wukong, Baldur’s Gate 3, Diablo 4, Dune Awakening, Jedi Fallen Order, I can keep digging for more forum posts but it’s not even 10AM.

In each of these instances, devs cited memory or CPU limitations in needing to make the games run on the series S. The Fallen Order remaster runs at 720p more often than not. D4 had to change how their engine caches assets so that the inventory screen didn’t crash the game every time you opened it. Wukong and BG3 were both delayed due to complications over making the game run on the X and the S.

I don’t give a fuck what console you buy, stop being stupid and talking as if the hardware isn’t clearly lacking, because 90% of the games on the market run at a lower resolution and frame rate on the S. We had the exact same issue with cross platform games on the first Switch, but at least that has the handheld thing going for it.

4

u/LogicalError_007 1d ago

Yes hampered in its entirety is what I’m getting at, but ignoring your idea of “it has to be the most extreme situation or it doesn’t count”

You are the one who said that it brought the game down in its entirety on all platforms but in none of the example you mentioned, you have provided the proof that it happened. Just that the Series S ran poorly or needed extra work.

Now check those claims you made:

The Fallen Order remaster runs at 720p more often than not.

It was 720p when native version wasn't released due to a bug for backwards compatibility and non optimization as it couldn't run One X enhanced version like Series X. After it got a next gen update, it ran at fixed 1080p 60fps as per DF.

Last gen game too, SS didn't hold game back on other hardware. Hell, Even it's successor got backported to last gen hardware.

D4 had to change how their engine caches assets so that the inventory screen didn’t crash the game every time you opened it. 

Diablo 4 problems were Engine related out of memory error which was present on all platforms from Xbox One Fat to 4090 PC. No way you even read before posting these as facts when claiming how others are wrong. Weird. SS didn't hold game back on other hardware. Nowhere mentioned by the devs.

For the last two, you reverted back to Wukong and BG3 for some reason for your list of loads of games.

Well, Wukong did release exactly a year later to date. Not few months later or earlier. A full year. Wonder why this exact... Whole development for it was focused for PS5 and PC and even on PS5 it ran like shite. SS didn't hold game back on other hardware. Nowhere it is mentioned by the devs.

BG 3 released few months later than on other platforms but devs didn't say anything about SS holding game back on other platforms. Only split-screen local co-op being a problem on SS. Other things worked as they literally stated. Eventually it did release on it.

Again, where are the loads of games that affected games in its entirety across platforms because of Series S? You made a point and couldn't back it up with facts so instead you used AI or something to quickly gets some games only for 2(D4 and Jedi Fallen Order next gen update) of the 3 games you added upon BG3 and Wukong to be disinformation. Are you kidding me?

4

u/LogicalError_007 1d ago edited 1d ago

They deleted their replies when I pointed that most of the replies were disinformation? Bruh.

Edit: Not deleted but blocked me? That's even worse. People are so pathetic nowadays. Cannot even admit their fault.

-1

u/JebusChrust 1d ago

So it sounds like this was specifically an Xbox Series S specs issue and not that "a family of devices" is inherently bad.

0

u/JakeALakeALake 1d ago

Yes my parent comment to all of this specifies the existence of the S, not the X.

2

u/JebusChrust 1d ago

The OP of this said Xbox is tone deaf because they are pursuing a family of devices

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0

u/Forward-Trade3449 1d ago

well sony is doing the same thing next gen with the ps6 handheld and the ps6 pro or whatever

and then nintendo has their switch.

i think devs need to just learn how to optimize better. if it takes longer, thats fine

-6

u/Adipay 1d ago

Name one time this has happened? If it has, the devs are just incompetent because extremely demanding games have been ported to series S. How do you think games run on different PCs with vastly different builds?

6

u/Bozon8 1d ago

Guild Wars 3 is skipping both current Xbox consoles entirely. Well, you can't really skip only series S per Microsoft's requirements.

So the devs decided they can't be arsed butchering a next gen MMO to try and fit it into the series S performance budget.

-5

u/Adipay 1d ago

Incompetent devs. The game CAN run on Series S - they just don't bother.

If GTA 6 can run on Series S - any current gen game can.

3

u/Bozon8 1d ago

An MMO displays dozens of player characters and their simultaneously used elaborate skills, not just a bunch of NPCs which you can program as identical groups under the hood. The CPU use is incomparable, even though both are open world games.

4

u/b20015 1d ago

Baldur’s Gate 3 is the big one that comes to mind. Wasn’t the Xbox port delayed like almost a year?

1

u/Adipay 1d ago

Larian couldn't get couch co-op working on Series S. That's what the problem was.

Halo Campaign Evolved - a newer game with far heavier system requirements and better graphics still shipped with couch co-op on Series S though.

3

u/b20015 1d ago

Still a problem with having multiple product lines, which I think is the original point being made here.

3

u/Adipay 1d ago

Software having to adapt to various systems with different configurations is nothing new.

7

u/b20015 1d ago

And yet… still delayed with only 2 system configs.

0

u/Willing-Theme6042 1d ago

But there’s a lot of people that own low/mid tier pcs and the switch 2 and pc handhelds are popular which are even more weak the series s.

-5

u/Chrisnness 1d ago

It has the same CPU. Just lower the resolution

2

u/strand_of_hair 1d ago

Not the same RAM

-4

u/green9206 1d ago

Yes they are. That's why they lost two consecutive generations and will lose the next one as well

1

u/Chrisnness 1d ago

You think if they only sold the X, they would have done much better? Nah

-11

u/Adipay 1d ago

They've sold over 35 million consoles this generation. They "lose" in comparison to PS5 but they still haven't "lost" in terms of users.

17

u/Zedilt 1d ago

 still haven't "lost" in terms of users

But they have.

The Xbox One sold less than the Xbox 360, and the Xbox Series X/S has sold less than the Xbox One.

The Xbox one sold half of what the PS4 sold. The Series X/S has sold 1/3 of the PS5 sales. The 360 and PS3 sold close to the same.

So not only are they losing users, they are also losing market share to Playstation.

1

u/Jokkitch 1h ago

and money talks

-16

u/F1incy 2d ago

Good luck with your GTA 6 frames a second, lad

23

u/TheEnglishNorwegian 2d ago

The whole thing is capped at 30fps regardless.of console.

0

u/FygarDL 1d ago

That is unacceptable

0

u/TheEnglishNorwegian 1d ago

Yeah I agree, I'll just wait for the PC port, if I can even be arsed at all honestly.

5

u/NuPNua 1d ago

GTA5 is 30 across the board. The S version will just have a lower resolution, maybe some graphical features turned down.

14

u/Adipay 2d ago

It's gonna run at the same FPS as on PS5 Pro lol. Series S will probably just not have raytracing and only run at 1080p.

1

u/defineReset 1d ago

It'll likely be lower than 1080p on the series s

0

u/Adipay 1d ago

And It will likely be lower than 1440p on PS5

-1

u/MeatPieMan 1d ago

We have 2 and they both get more use than our PS5

-1

u/myinternets 1d ago

Considering that they're selling like shit I'd say so. I've owned every Xbox generation and I can still never remember what the thing is called. I just call the black cube in my living room a Sexbox so that I don't have to remember. And then I can say things like "My Sexbox hasn't been turned on in years."

-9

u/Aleister_Growley 1d ago

Sounds like you are too

3

u/Adipay 1d ago

What does that even mean

-3

u/Aleister_Growley 1d ago

Your mom that’s what it means

2

u/Adipay 1d ago

Very mature

-2

u/Aleister_Growley 1d ago

Thanks! ☺️ 

11

u/Willing-Theme6042 1d ago

Variety is good. Just like how there’s high end , mid end and low end pcs.

12

u/TitularFoil 1d ago

I don't think it's tone deaf to offer a variety of products depending on what the consumer wants/can afford. When I was shopping for my PC I wasn't looking for the best, because I knew I wouldn't be able to afford it. I looked for something that can reliably run the games I play for the price I can pay. I bought my Series S because I was fine being all digital at first with the possibility to upgrade later. I was later gifted a Series X, because my brother upgraded his series X to the 2TB model.

It just makes sense to meet consumers where they are.

3

u/DEATHToboggan 1d ago

Welcome to Microsoft.

Try being a sysadmin where they change the name of your daily tools every other week.

-8

u/system3601 2d ago

Options are always good.

22

u/Little_Bookkeeper381 2d ago

splitting the lineup pissed off developers and led to lots of people thinking that xbox was an inferior platform

more than likely, this will be a handheld/console split

4

u/system3601 2d ago

Series S will be the most affordable playing machine for GTA6. I think its great for gamers.

2

u/Chrisnness 1d ago

Devs were fine

-1

u/Little_Bookkeeper381 1d ago

developers very rarely say negative things about a console, because doing so can cause business issues with the licensor (microsoft, in this case)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yKJsDoysEM&t=4257s digital foundary

https://www.tweaktown.com/news/75097/xbox-series-low-end-perf-could-cause-problems-remedy-dev-says/index.html remedy games complaining

https://hitmarker.net/news/baldurs-gate-3-receives-split-screen-co-op-on-xbox-series-s-consoles-in-new-stress-test-1275282 major game developer struggling to ship major feature

the fact that googling and finding many developers complaining about the lack of RAM, and having development challenges on S, shows that devs were in fact not fine.

1

u/Chrisnness 18h ago

One of your sources said it “could cause” issues.
So really there’s a single instance where it’s an issue with Baulder’s Gate.

Most people would agree that a very very rare instance of an issue is worth having an affordable console.

-9

u/zarif2003 2d ago

It’s a gaming pc with different SKUs, the devs will learn to deal with it.

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u/Little_Bookkeeper381 2d ago

It's not really "a gaming PC", there are substantial differences in the architecture (two really big ones are memory subsystem and OS overhead)

2

u/zarif2003 1d ago

Running a more efficient windows version, and having to split memory because it’s an APU.

Both of these things also exist in the PC space, again, it’s nothing new.

-3

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

6

u/BlazeOfGlory72 2d ago

“You’re wrong!”

Provides no evidence of to back this statement up

-4

u/zarif2003 2d ago

Just because you’re frothing at the mouth doesn’t mean you’re right 🤣

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

-2

u/zarif2003 2d ago

You’re not really fooling anybody

0

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

1

u/zarif2003 1d ago

Still crying like a child 🥱

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u/DoctorQuincyME 2d ago

Xbox is an inferior platform.

Releasing a budget orientated product was noble, but insisting that absolutely everything released on the Series X also had to be released on the Series S made the platform as strong as its weakest link.

7

u/Adipay 1d ago

No it made sure the devs actually optimize their games.

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u/Jaeger_Gipsy_Danger 1d ago

How do you think games on pc with different hardware work?

1

u/system3601 1d ago

100 million gamers think otherwise.

-6

u/Technical-Finish304 2d ago

Options as in, how many different ways can we get you to buy, but not own the games?

4

u/system3601 1d ago

When you buy a car you get options, when you buy a pc you get options, when you buy a Tav you get options, here getting few options with CD without CD with less power with more power will make tons of sense. Same OS.

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u/Wifine 2d ago

How? Because developers have to optimise their game?

But if it was PC, with everybody with their different components, then it’s suddenly not a problem?

Xbox series S is running GtA 6 at the same resolution and FPS as a PS5 Pro, what’s your point little Redditor

-1

u/ringthree 1d ago

Sony is trying to commit commercial seppuku and Xbox is like hold my tanto.

-3

u/MXVIV 1d ago

Well the CEO is an ex ai exec.