As Microsoft's next-generation consoles approached their November 2020 launch, Capcom's Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition quietly revealed something the marketing materials had not: not all next-gen is created equal. By granting ray tracing and 4K resolution exclusively to the Xbox Series X while withholding both from the more affordable Series S, the studio drew a visible boundary between aspiration and hardware reality. It is a moment that speaks to a recurring tension in consumer technology — the promise of the new, and the quiet compromises that make it affordable.
Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition Gets Ray Tracing on Series X, Not Series S
The Series S occupies an awkward middle ground between current and next-gen
Mark
Why does ray tracing matter enough to exclude it from Series S entirely? Couldn't they have scaled it down rather than removed it?
Mimi
Ray tracing is computationally expensive—it traces light paths through a scene, which demands significant GPU resources. On Series S, the hardware simply doesn't have enough headroom to run it at a playable frame rate while maintaining the visual quality Capcom wanted. Scaling it down would have meant compromising the effect so much it wouldn't be worth including.
Mark
So this is less about Capcom being lazy and more about the Series S just not being capable?
Mimi
Exactly. The Series S has about half the GPU power of Series X. At some point, you hit a wall where the math doesn't work. It's not a choice; it's a limitation.
Mark
Does this mean Series S owners should feel like they got a bad deal?
Mimi
Not necessarily. They're still getting a next-gen experience—120 fps, fast loading, Vergil as a playable character. Ray tracing is a luxury feature, not a necessity. But it does signal that Series S is more of a budget compromise than a true next-gen console.
Mark
Will other games do the same thing?
Mimi
Almost certainly. Developers will use ray tracing as one of the clearest ways to differentiate between the two machines. It's a visible, marketable difference that justifies the price gap.
Mark
What about PC players getting no ray tracing at all? That seems strange.
Mimi
That's the oddest part of this announcement. PC hardware is all over the map—some rigs are weaker than Series S, others far more powerful than Series X. Rather than try to scale ray tracing across that spectrum, Capcom just left it out. It's simpler, but it does mean PC players miss out on a feature console players get.
Le Pouls
- Capcom's announcement forces a reckoning: the $299 Series S, sold as a next-gen console, cannot run one of the generation's signature visual features.
- The gap is not subtle — ray tracing and 4K on Series X versus 1440p with no ray tracing on Series S represents a meaningful split in experience, not merely a footnote.
- PC players face their own unexpected demotion, receiving the new character and modes but no ray tracing at all, inverting the usual assumption that high-end rigs lead the pack.
- Both Xbox consoles do share meaningful upgrades — 120fps support, faster load times, 3D audio, and the beloved Vergil as a fully playable character — softening but not erasing the divide.
- The decision sets a precedent: as developers choose which features to implement on which hardware, the Series S risks becoming a console caught between generations rather than firmly within the new one.
As Microsoft's next-generation consoles approached their November 2020 launch, Capcom's Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition quietly revealed something the marketing materials had not: not all next-gen is created equal. By granting ray tracing and 4K resolution exclusively to the Xbox Series X while withholding both from the more affordable Series S, the studio drew a visible boundary between aspiration and hardware reality. It is a moment that speaks to a recurring tension in consumer technology — the promise of the new, and the quiet compromises that make it affordable.
When Capcom announced Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition in late October 2020, it came with an implicit confession about Microsoft's new console lineup. The Xbox Series X would receive the full next-gen treatment — 4K resolution, DirectX ray tracing, 120fps support, improved audio, and dramatically reduced load times. The Xbox Series S, priced $200 cheaper, would get most of those benefits but not the ones that matter most visually: ray tracing is disabled entirely, and resolution drops to 1440p.
The Special Edition is otherwise a generous package. Vergil, a franchise favorite, becomes playable for the first time in this version, capable of shifting between human and demonic forms mid-combat. Turbo Mode and the punishing Legendary Dark Knight difficulty — which floods the screen with dozens of enemies simultaneously — arrive on both new Xbox consoles. Players on older hardware and PC can access Vergil only as paid DLC, and the visual upgrades remain exclusive to the new machines.
Curiously, PC players find themselves at an unexpected disadvantage. Despite the platform's reputation for cutting-edge capability, high-end gaming rigs will not receive ray tracing support at all — only the new character and modes. It is a quiet reversal of the usual order.
The deeper story is about what the Series S actually is. At half the GPU power and with less memory bandwidth than the Series X, it occupies an uncomfortable middle ground — too new to be treated as current-gen, too limited to deliver the full next-gen experience. Capcom's choice to use ray tracing as a dividing line between the two consoles suggests other studios will follow suit. For anyone weighing the $299 entry point against the $499 flagship, Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition offers an early and honest answer about what that savings actually costs. Both consoles launched November 10, 2020, with the PS5 version following two days later.
Capcom has drawn a clear line between Microsoft's two new consoles: Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition will arrive on Xbox Series X with full ray tracing and 4K resolution, but the less expensive Series S will get neither. The announcement, made in late October as the new hardware approached launch, crystallizes a growing reality for developers—the Series S, despite being marketed as a next-generation machine, occupies an awkward middle ground between current and next-gen performance.
The Special Edition itself is a substantial package. Vergil, a fan-favorite character from the franchise, becomes playable for the first time in this version, with the ability to shift between human and demonic forms mid-combat. Both new Xbox consoles will support frame rates up to 120 fps, improved 3D audio, and dramatically shorter load times. Turbo Mode and Legendary Dark Knight difficulty—a punishing challenge setting that renders dozens of enemies on screen simultaneously—arrive on both machines. For players on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, Vergil comes as paid DLC only; the visual enhancements stay exclusive to the new hardware.
But here's where the split emerges. Series X owners get the full treatment: 4K resolution paired with DirectX ray tracing, which adds realistic reflections and lighting to the game's already polished visuals. Series S players, by contrast, will see the game rendered at 1440p—a downscale from 4K—with ray tracing disabled entirely. It's a meaningful gap, not merely a cosmetic one. The Series S, priced at $299 against the Series X's $499, has half the GPU power and less memory bandwidth, constraints that become visible in decisions like this.
PC players, interestingly, fare worse in some respects. High-end gaming rigs won't receive ray tracing support at all, only the new character and gameplay modes. It's an unusual reversal of the typical hierarchy where PC gets the most advanced features.
The decision reflects a broader pattern emerging as developers navigate the new console generation. The Series S was positioned as an affordable entry point to next-gen gaming, but its hardware limitations mean it often lands in a gray zone—too weak for the full next-gen experience, too new to be treated like current-gen hardware. Capcom's choice to withhold ray tracing from Series S suggests other studios will likely make similar calls, using the feature as a differentiator between the two machines. For players considering which console to buy, it's a reminder that the cheaper option comes with real trade-offs, not just in raw power but in which features developers choose to implement. Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition launches on Xbox Series X and S on November 10, 2020, with the PS5 version arriving two days later.
Citations marquantes
Capcom announced the ray tracing decision in an open letter to the community via Twitter, stating that Series X owners would experience the Special Edition 'at its best' with 4K and DirectX ray tracing enabled— Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition team
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