GTA 6 Fans Divided Over Xbox Holding the Game Back

Grand Theft Auto fans are worried Xbox is going to hold back GTA 6 at release. The current expectation is that the next Grand Theft Auto game will be a PS5 and Xbox Series X|S release when it comes out. While a PC port will likely come later down the road, PS4 and Xbox One releases look very unlikely considering when the game will come out and how technically demanding it’s going to be when it does. That said, some GTA fans are worried the underpowered Xbox Series S may still hold the game back from reaching its fullest potential. 

In a new post over on the GTA 6 Reddit page — titled “Do you think the Xbox Series S will hold back in GTA 6 anyway” — one Grand Theft Auto fan proposes the idea that the console’s inferior innards could be a problem if the game needs to be designed with these limitations in mind. To this end, GTA 6 fans are divided over the possibility. 

“No, because the game will also come to PC,” writes on Reddit user. “Their goal is to optimize it for as many systems, whether weak or powerful, as they possibly can. So no, the Series S won’t hold them back. “Surely they could just reduce NPC density, turn off raytracing, cap at 30fps for that console and it should be fine,” adds another reply in agreement. 

These are dissenting opinions, but there are players who agree with the sentiment of concern. And their concerns are valid, to a degree. The Xbox Series S is not going to hold something back like the frame rate of the game on PS5 and Xbox Series X. Developers are used to spending time scaling the game to various benchmarks with PC game development. The key here is “spending time.” There will be resources spent getting the game running on Xbox Series S that could be dumped into development elsewhere. Further, when you’re designing a game, you need to design it with said limitations in mind. You can only design a game to the capabilities of the weakest hardware running it. Certain specifics, like frame rate and resolution, are not going to be impacted, but design philosophies and game systems could be. 

It’s impossible to know if the Xbox Series S has held back the game’s development in any capacity. It probably hasn’t. The difference between the console and the Xbox Series X and PS5 is simply not that great. And there are certainly lower-end PCs Rockstar Games is accounting for already that are weaker than the Xbox Series S. That said, we have heard from some developers that the Xbox Series S has been a problem, so it’s certainly possible its limitations are straining the development of GTA 6 as well.

H/T, Gaming Bible.