Before a single unit has shipped, the Xbox Series S is already navigating the oldest tension in consumer technology: the gap between what a product promises and what the market reveals it to be. At $299, Microsoft's smallest Xbox was positioned as a democratic gateway to the next generation — not a lesser experience, merely a smaller one. Yet with major developers already trimming ray tracing and frame rate features from their Series S versions, the console's launch week raises a quiet but consequential question about whether affordability and capability can truly be sold as the same thing.
Xbox Series S Already Missing Next-Gen Features Like Ray Tracing
Next-gen parity at lower resolution is proving harder than promised
Mark
Why does ray tracing matter so much that its absence on the Series S is worth reporting?
Mimi
Ray tracing is one of the defining visual technologies of this generation—it's how light behaves in games, creating reflections and shadows that feel real. When a major title like Devil May Cry 5 includes it on the Series X but not the S, it's saying the cheaper console can't handle it. That's a signal about the ceiling of what's possible.
Mark
But the Series S is still cheaper and people are buying it. Does this actually matter to the person spending $299?
Mimi
It matters if you're buying the Series S expecting to play the same games as someone with a Series X. You'll get the game, sure, but you'll get a different version—fewer visual features, sometimes lower frame rates. Microsoft sold this as a next-gen console at a lower price, not a compromised console. There's a difference.
Mark
Is this just how console generations work? Cheaper hardware, fewer features?
Mimi
Usually, yes. But Microsoft was explicit that the Series S would deliver next-gen experiences. They didn't say "it's like the Series X but cheaper." They said it would keep pace with the demands of the new generation. These early decisions suggest that promise is already fraying.
Mark
What happens if this becomes the norm?
Mimi
Then the Series S becomes a different product than what was advertised. Not a bad product—still a good value—but not what people thought they were buying. That's the risk we're watching unfold.
The Pulse
- Devil May Cry 5 will launch without ray tracing on Series S while both the Series X and PS5 receive the feature, marking one of the first concrete signs that 'next-gen' will mean different things depending on which box sits under your television.
- PUBG's Series S version remains capped at 30fps — the same ceiling it hit on the last-generation Xbox One S — despite the new hardware being substantially more powerful, a comparison that is difficult for Microsoft's marketing to absorb.
- The $299 price point was engineered to democratize next-gen gaming, but the compromises arriving before launch day suggest the savings may come with a generational asterisk that wasn't part of the pitch.
- Not every developer has written off the hardware — Watch Dogs Legion will support ray tracing on Series S, and Halo runs at 120fps, indicating the console's ceiling is real but not yet fully mapped.
- The decisions being made in these opening weeks are likely to calcify into industry habits, meaning the Series S's long-term identity may be shaped less by Microsoft's vision and more by the cumulative choices of third-party studios.
Before a single unit has shipped, the Xbox Series S is already navigating the oldest tension in consumer technology: the gap between what a product promises and what the market reveals it to be. At $299, Microsoft's smallest Xbox was positioned as a democratic gateway to the next generation — not a lesser experience, merely a smaller one. Yet with major developers already trimming ray tracing and frame rate features from their Series S versions, the console's launch week raises a quiet but consequential question about whether affordability and capability can truly be sold as the same thing.
The Xbox Series S hasn't reached consumers yet, but developers are already making choices that complicate Microsoft's narrative. Capcom confirmed that Devil May Cry 5: Special Edition will arrive on the Series S without ray tracing — a feature present on both the Series X and PlayStation 5. The game still offers 120fps, enhanced audio, and faster load times, but the omission is a visible crack in the console's next-gen credentials.
The concern deepens with PUBG. While the Series X and PS5 will run the battle royale at 60fps through a new frame rate priority mode, the Series S version stays locked at 30fps — the same limit it faced on the Xbox One S. For a console marketed as a generational leap, the comparison is uncomfortable.
Microsoft built the Series S around a specific promise: next-generation gaming at lower resolution, not lower capability. At $299 — a full $100 beneath the PS5 Digital Edition — it was designed to make the new era accessible. Pre-orders have sold out repeatedly in the US and UK ahead of its November 10 launch, suggesting the value proposition has resonated widely.
Yet the early developer decisions introduce doubt. Capcom and PUBG Corp are not niche studios making cautious bets — they are major publishers signaling what they believe the hardware can sustain. If their choices become a template, Series S owners may find themselves with a machine that improves on the last generation without fully inhabiting the next one.
Counterexamples exist. Watch Dogs Legion will support ray tracing on the Series S, and Halo: The Master Chief Collection runs at 120fps on the console. These suggest the hardware is capable — the question is whether developers will consistently choose to unlock that capability or quietly route around it. The answer, still forming in these early weeks, may define what the Series S actually is for the entirety of its generation.
The Xbox Series S hasn't shipped yet, but developers are already making choices that suggest the console won't keep pace with its more powerful siblings. Capcom confirmed this week that Devil May Cry 5: Special Edition will arrive on the Series S without ray tracing—a visual feature that will be present on both the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5. The game will still deliver 120fps performance, enhanced 3D audio, faster load times, and a new playable character, but the ray tracing omission signals an early compromise.
The pattern extends beyond Capcom's action title. PUBG Corp announced that their battle royale will run at 60fps on the Series X and PS5 using a new "frame rate priority" mode that drops resolution to 1080p. On the Series S, the game remains locked at 30fps—the same ceiling it hit on the previous generation's Xbox One S, despite the Series S being substantially more powerful hardware.
These technical decisions arrive at an awkward moment for Microsoft's positioning. The company has marketed the Series S as a console capable of delivering next-generation experiences at lower resolution, not lower capability. The $299 price tag—$100 cheaper than the PS5 Digital Edition—was meant to make next-gen gaming accessible without sacrificing the core features that define the new console generation. A digital-only machine with no 4K Blu-Ray drive, the Series S is also Microsoft's smallest Xbox ever, and pre-orders have sold out repeatedly in the US and UK ahead of its November 10 launch.
But when developers begin cutting visual features like ray tracing just weeks before release, it raises a question about what "next-gen" actually means on the cheaper hardware. These aren't edge-case decisions by niche studios—Capcom and PUBG Corp are major publishers making early bets about what the Series S can handle. If this becomes a pattern, owners of the cheaper console could find themselves with a machine that plays current-generation games at higher frame rates but misses the graphical innovations that define the new era.
There are counterpoints worth noting. Watch Dogs Legion will support ray tracing on the Series S, suggesting developers haven't universally decided the feature is off-limits. Halo: The Master Chief Collection has been shown running at 120fps on the console, albeit at lower resolution than the Series X version. These examples indicate the Series S isn't fundamentally incapable of next-gen features—it's a matter of developer choice and optimization priority.
Still, the early pattern is worth watching. We're only seeing the first wave of optimized titles, and the technical decisions being made now will likely inform how developers approach the Series S throughout the generation. If ray tracing and higher frame rates become standard trade-offs on the cheaper console, the marketing promise of next-gen parity at lower resolution will have proven hollow. For now, the Series S remains an attractive entry point to the new generation—but its actual capabilities may depend less on what Microsoft promised and more on what developers decide is worth building.
Notable Quotes
Microsoft positioned the Xbox Series S as capable of keeping pace with next-gen demands in all but resolution— TechRadar reporting on Microsoft's marketing claims
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