Xbox Series X Isn't Finished Yet

Trying to snagging Sony's PlayStation 5 or Microsoft's Xbox Series X|S is still like pulling teeth, so it's easy to forget that the two dueling consoles have been floating around — mostly in scalpers' basements — since November of last year. And while both platforms boast their own proprietary tech, it's painfully apparent that the PS5 has been one-upping Xbox's new iterations in one specific field: games developed specifically for the new generation of hardware. One video game insider, however, thinks that is about to change.

According to an interview with GamingBolt, Neon Giant's Tor Frick — creative director of upcoming Xbox One and Xbox X|S title "The Ascent" — feels that developers are bound to embrace the full potential of Microsoft's latest machine.

Discussing how it will "take some time before it becomes apparent how big of a shift" the transition from Xbox One development to that of Xbox Series X will be, he told the outlet, "The fast load times will allow developers to create experiences that are more seamless, richer, more detailed and more varied." He added that technology like the Series X|S's NVMe solid state drive will "help smaller developers bridge the gap between budget titles and what we would traditionally expect from AAA studios."

While Frick seems awfully optimistic about the prospect of developers taking their time to learn the ins and outs of all the tech crammed into the Xbox X, history has shown that there's a downside to drawing out the new-gen hardware adaptation process.

While Tor Frick never outwardly claimed to GamingBolt that developing for the Xbox X will be difficult, his suggestion that it may be some time before studios can grasp the full scope of Microsoft's new hardware is a bit worrying. Coincidentally, Sony found itself in a similar situation following the 2006 launch of the PlayStation 3.

In a 2009 episode of the "This Xbox Life" podcast, Midway's Shaun Himmerick dished on the difficulties of developing for Sony's seventh-generation console (via CNET). He quipped, "The politically incorrect answer is that the PS3 is a huge pain in the ass," adding, "Anyone making a game, if you're going to make it for both, just lead on the PS3 because if it works on the PS3, it'll work on 360."

According to Himmerick, certain memory constraints — along with rendering and processing quirks — made the PlayStation 3 considerably more difficult to work with compared to Microsoft's Xbox 360. The strangest part? According to then Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Kaz Hirai, this was intentional. 

Hirai told the Official PlayStation Magazine in its February 2009 issue, "We don't provide the 'easy to program for' console that [developers] want, because 'easy to program for' means that anybody will be able to take advantage of [it]" (via CNET). He followed up this bizarre statement with an equally confusing one, adding, "A lot of people see the negatives of it, but if you flip that around, it means the hardware has a lot more to offer."

Hopefully, Tor Frick is right, and the Xbox Series X will continue to rise, rather than stumbling into the same pitfalls as what some considered Sony's worst console.