The console market has always been a hotly debated topic in the gaming industry, with Nintendo Switch 2 sparking even more debate over what the ideal performance and features an ideal gaming device should have. While there’s no doubt that Switch 2 is an impressive piece of hardware that drastically improves from its predecessor, it obviously can’t directly compete with the likes of an Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5.
What Nintendo’s Switch 2 lacks in power, it more than makes up for it with creative ways for AAA titles and first-party games to work around its limitations, but devs can only do so much. While scaled-down versions of pre-existing titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Hogwarts Legacy work surprisingly well on Switch 2, day-one releases bring up an eerily familiar problem.
The Xbox Series S Has Been Holding Back Games For Years
Preventing The Next-Generation Of Hardware From Shining
The release of the Xbox Series S was supposed to offer a midway upgrade between the Xbox One and the expensive new Xbox Series X, with all the bells and whistles of a new console at a lower price point with reduced specs as a result. While the Xbox Series S was great in theory, it had a massive downside of holding back the next generation of multi-platform titles.
Aside from forcing countless developers to optimize their next-generation games on outdated hardware, it makes even more sense why more developers have been opting for PlayStation exclusivity, even if it’s only for a limited time.
With games like Black Myth: Wukong taking an entire year to create their long-awaited Xbox port, it’s clear the problem goes much deeper than just the financial incentives of exclusivity contracts.
The negative effects of the Xbox Series S on the gaming industry are still being felt to this day as well, with the developers behind Battlefield 6 struggling to even get the game working on the console due to its limited memory, as noted by TheGamer.
Triple-A Switch 2 Titles Are Already Facing The Same Criticisms
Resident Evil Requiem Is Setting Off Warning Bells Already
Despite talks of the next generation of consoles already on the horizon from both Xbox and PlayStation that could finally bring us past the half-decade of hardware limitations, Nintendo’s Switch 2 seems to be throwing an entirely new wrench into the mix.
While it’s far from surprising that game developers might want to ride Switch 2’s record-breaking sales and growing playerbase, it’s likely doing more harm than good.
Even if it’s too early into the lifespan of Switch 2 to say for sure how much of an effect it will have, the upcoming release of Resident Evil Requiem has already been under scrutiny for its presentation on the new console.
While Requiem seems to run surprisingly well on Switch 2, it seems the visual fidelity of even the PC and PlayStation versions is a little underwhelming for what’s supposed to be a next-generational step in the series.
It could easily be argued that the lack of inspiring environmental graphics could be due to a gameplay-first focus by the developers or simply the results of still using a nearly decade-old engine; the lackluster close-up details are still being blamed for its day-one launch as a Switch 2 title.
This isn’t to say that plenty of the visual elements, like the character models, animations, and spooky set design are stellar on their own, but the missing details have still been causing a bit of a stir in the community.
Regardless of how well Switch 2 handles triple-A titles or if Resident Evil: Requiem can live up to the hype of the franchise, it’s clear that the console thrives much better when it comes to less hardware-intensive but equally visually impressive games like Hollow Knight: Silksong, making it the ideal way to experience them.
Weaker Consoles Do Have One Silver Lining For Players
Xbos Series S Users Aren’t The Only Ones Benefiting From Optimized Games
Even if there have been plenty of defenses for the Xbox Series S that games still struggle with optimization regardless of the console’s existence, it does bring up one of the best benefits it has had in the industry.
It would be easy for developers to ignore everything except for the latest and greatest hardware of consoles like the PlayStation 5 Pro, but weaker consoles force developers to ensure a seamless experience across all devices.
Being especially felt by PC players on a variety of different hardware, games like Monster Hunter Wilds and its mostly negative reviews about performance show just how vital these effects are for satisfying their playerbases. Unfortunately, the same releases show that the forced optimization of the Xbox Series S and Switch 2 doesn’t realize the concept, while still holding back ambitious projects from reaching their full potential.
Even after Microsoft gave up trying to compete with Sony’s market-dominating PlayStation 5, there is still plenty of demand for a new Xbox console that can correct the failures of the Xbox Series S|X, finally moving past the limitations of the previous generation.
Switch 2 Faces Similar Criticisms as Xbox Series S
