Ex-Tekken director savages Xbox Series S in front of senior Xbox staff: ‘feels like having to do extra work for a slightly weaker child’

Former Tekken director and current SNK VS Studio CEO, Katsuhiro Harada, recently expressed strong criticism towards the Xbox Series S at the Console Game Developers Conference in Seoul. During the event, Harada directed his comments towards a senior Xbox official, expressing his disapproval of the release of hardware like the Xbox Series S. The director asked the Xbox official if he was upset about the Series S, to which the official responded with a chuckle that Sasko, CDPR Associate Game Director, caught onto and mirrored.

Harada explained that despite the Xbox Series S being more popular than the Series X in the US, its low memory and lower-than-expected performance compared to the Series X posed significant challenges. He humorously remarked that "delivering your absolute best output feels like having to do extra work for a slightly weaker child."

Sasko agreed with Harada's assessment, albeit with a positive spin, stating that optimizing for lower-spec platforms like the Xbox Series S results in significantly better performance across all platforms, such as PS5, high-end PCs, and handheld devices like the Steam Deck and ROG Ally. He also highlighted the affordability of the Series S as an advantage.