Xbox Series S: Backward Compatibility Optimizations

Microsoft was very explanatory on the issue of backward compatibility with Xbox Series X, but it hadn't done the same with its younger sister Series S. It just stated that Xbox Series S, would not benefit from the same improvements in this regard compared to Xbox One X. how will the smallest and cheapest console fare with games from previous Xbox generations? After discussing it with Microsoft, the folks at Digital Foundry clarified the matter: Xbox Series S will boast superior backward compatibility performance compared to Xbox One X, improving past titles in both resolution and framerate.

The resolution of the first Xbox from 2001 will be increased by a whopping 3x from the original resolution, which means that titles that hit 480p on the original console will peak at 1440p on the Xbox Series S, including Xbox 360 titles that they ran at native 720p. The same applies to Xbox One games as well. The surprising news is precisely the statement that, although Xbox Series S will not reach the maximum 4K seen on Xbox One X, these games will benefit from enhancements that are not possible on Xbox One X.

“We designed Series S to offer improvements in Xbox One games that aren't possible on Xbox One X. We've simplified the process of updating current Xbox One games so that they work at double the framerate when played on Series S. In terms of performance, Series S it exceeds the actual CPU and GPU performance by well over double that of Xbox One, so achieving these results is very simple. In fact, the Xbox Series S GPU can run Xbox One games with better performance than Xbox One X, ”system architect Andrew Goossen told Digital Foundry.