Xbox chief says Xbox Series X will focus more on framerate than resolution

Head of Xbox Phil Spencer wants the Xbox Series X to emphasize framerate over resolution.

In a recent interview with Australian gaming outlet Stevivor, Spencer touched on some of the technical capabilities of Microsoft’s next-gen console.

While he reiterated that the Xbox Series X will be capable of rendering games in 8K resolution, he explained that this is more to give developers the option to pursue as high graphical fidelity as possible.

“We’ve never really tried to limit what developers are trying to do on our platform, whether it’s 60 frames per second on Xbox 360 or people doing 4K, 60 [frames-per-second] now on Xbox One X,” he explained. “We want to give developers the tools to go try things that they want to go try on any of the hardware platforms and capability can be there for them to go try things.”

That said, Spencer noted that framerate is what the console will have more of a focus on.

“I think we’ve reached a point with Xbox One X in the generation where games look amazing, and there’s always work we can do to look more amazing. But I want games to feel as amazing as they look,” said Spencer.

“We don’t have that in today’s generation, mainly because the CPU is underpowered relative to the GPU that’s in the box in order to reach a feel and frame rate and kind of consistency or variable refresh rate and other things that we want. As we were looking at the future, the feel of the games was definitely something that we wanted to have more focus on, not just throwing more pixels up on the screen.”

So far, the only games that are confirmed for Xbox Series X are Halo: Infinite and Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2. However, only in-engine cutscenes from these games have been shown, as opposed to actual gameplay. Therefore, there’s currently no way to see the higher framerate that Spencer is referring to firsthand.

It’s possible that some developers will offer players an option to prioritize framerate or resolution — a marquee feature of the 4K-capable Xbox One X and PlayStation 4 Pro in various games.

For now, though, we’ll likely have to wait until the inevitable full unveiling of the console. As it stands, the Xbox Series X is set to launch sometime this holiday. Specific pricing and games lineup have yet to be confirmed.

Source: Stevivor