Xbox Series S accused of dragging video games down, Rocksteady developer says

This weekend, the announcement of the absence of 60fps in the game Gotham Knights caused great debate on social networks. For some this is simply unconscionable, especially after two years of the new living room machines, while others see no difference with 30 frames per second. Where these technical concerns mainly react is that the game does not come out on PS4 or Xbox One, as Warner Bros Montreal explained, explaining that they were focusing on new consoles to deliver the best possible rendering. . If producer Fleur Marty tried to justify herself on Discord, many Twitter analysts and former developers began to participate in the debate. A certain Lee Devonald, a developer from the Rocksteady studio (Batman Arkham) has also been particularly quoted and retweeted, since the latter claims that if Gotham Knights will not run at 60fps, it is indeed because of the Xbox Series S. "A generation of games weighed down by this potato", that's how he describes Microsoft's console, less technically powerful than its big sister the Xbox Series X. This is not the first time that the Xbox Series S has been taken for target by frustrated developers (notably at Techland and 4A Games) to have their games technically restricted, and according to some, they risk continuing to penalize this generation of consoles. 

I would like gamers to understand what 60fps means, especially in relation to everything they "lose" by not being able to run the game that fast. Especially when you take into account that we have a current console generation that is no more efficient than the previous one. Cross-media games should always be optimized for the lowest performance machines. The Series S exists. And Microsoft will never let you launch a game on one without launching on the other. A whole generation of games weighed down by this potato.

 

Lee Devonald's comments caused a huge reaction, to the point that the latter closed his Twitter account. It is true that it is rare for developers to take a stand against manufacturers, since denigrating a machine in the public square is generally not well seen in the microcosm of video games. We remember that Fleur Marty, the producer of Gotham Knights had mentioned optimization concerns because of a greedy open world and a local coop which prevented the game from running at 60 frames per second. Some see it as a way to drown the fish, while Lee Devonald did not hesitate to say the terms - we also hate this new expression. Other Internet users recall that the Xbox Series S managed to run games at 60fps, such as Cyberpunk 2077 recently with an update. Granted, that's not the best example to set.