Xbox Boss Dismisses Idea Of Removing The Series S Parity Clause

Ever since the Xbox Series S was first released back in 2020, we’ve heard very occasionally from developers who have had a tough time getting their games onto it – Baldur’s Gate 3 was the most high-profile example to date.

In fact, during that saga, it was mentioned that Xbox had parity clauses in place for the Series S and Series X, which essentially meant that a game’s features needed to be the same on both consoles. A one-off exception was eventually made for Baldur’s Gate 3, which saw local split-screen being ditched from the Series S version at launch.

However, speaking in an interview with Destin Legarie this week, the Microsoft Gaming CEO dismissed the idea of removing the parity clause entirely, suggesting instead that the Series S has become more important than ever for developers to target because of the wide variety of devices that are available on the market these days.

Here’s what Phil had to say about the topic during the chat:

Destin: “Would you ever consider dropping or adjusting the Xbox Series S parity clauses with the Xbox Series X, those sort of requirements? Some developers have brought up difficulty optimising for the Series S. Can you tell us any more about plans there?”

Phil Spencer: I think about it in almost exactly the opposite way right now. With the rise of handheld PCs and even the introduction so far of the Switch 2, as developers we’re building on more device spec. I actually think we have a real advantage because we’ve been targeting the Series S for quite a while. So, when we look at a Steam Deck or a ROG Ally or something, we’ve got this Series S version of the games that’s more tailored to the device specs of a lot of devices that frankly are getting introduced right now. And frankly, the scalability of engines today allows them to scale…”

“I’m playing Indiana Jones on the Series S and it looks great, so it’s definitely capable of playing current-generation games in a great way, but most of your games that are going to be out there are going to be supporting these different devices, and the Series S spec actually maps pretty well to the devices that we’re seeing introduced right now. So, I think it’s actually an important design point for teams going forward – that kind of power/performance mix that you see in the Xbox Series S.”

There are obviously some Xbox fans that are in favour of the parity clause being dropped for Series S, but we also very much understand Phil’s point here – and the handheld situation means it does kind of feel pointless to remove now.

If developers want their games to be accessible on the likes of the Nintendo Switch 2, Steam Deck, ASUS ROG Ally and others, they’re going to need to target that Series S spec anyway (or something close), so it doesn’t make any sense on Xbox’s part to remove the parity clause for a console – especially when they’re planning to build a handheld as well!

But what do you think? Do you have a different opinion? Let us know in the comments below.