Katsuhiro Harada, former head of Tekken and current head of VS Studio, publicly criticized the Xbox Series S (XSS) for adding adaptation pressure on development teams, stating he hopes the next generation of Xbox will not launch similar low-spec products like the "Helix S." He addressed this issue during the closing panel at the 2026 Console Game Developers Conference held in South Korea.
Harada stated that while the XSS is positioned similarly to the XSX, it has less memory, and the performance gap makes development challenging. After completing the high-spec version, teams must invest additional resources to adapt to the lower-spec model. With a significant number of Series S users in markets like the US, developers cannot simply reduce their efforts, yet issues such as reduced graphics quality may ultimately lead to player complaints.
CDPR Associate Game Director Paweł Sasko agreed that the limitations of lower-spec hardware force teams to optimize their code more rigorously. However, he also pointed out that these optimization benefits can feed back into platforms like the PS5, high-end PCs, Steam Deck, and ROG Ally, while the lower price of the XSS helps bring games to a wider audience.
Citing Cyberpunk 2077 as an example, Sasko stated that the team had dedicated 80 to 100 people to the Switch 2 version for over a year, achieving significant optimization breakthroughs that were later applied to other platforms. Other attendees included former Sony executive Shuhei Yoshida and Shift Up CTO DongKi Lee.