Just read the interview from eurogamer:
You have talked about obviously more powerful visuals for games, ray tracing, virtually instant loading. But does the Xbox Series X enable any sort of gameplay innovations we haven't seen before or are not possible on any other platforms?
Jason Ronald: The answer is kind of yes across the board. Obviously, with all the advances we have in GPU power and GPU efficiency, not only is it the raw power, but it's also the innovations on top of that, things like ray tracing for better lighting, better reflections, higher quality shadows, as well as more immersive audio experiences. You also have things like variable rate shading. Beyond the raw power we're delivering, we're giving developers a lot of tools to be that much more efficient in how they use t he power we're giving them.
But the real game changers from a gameplay and a game design perspective are actually on the CPU on the IO (data transfer speed) side. Today's current generation titles often are bottlenecked on the CPU on the IO side, and it's really constraining what you do as a game designer. And sometimes you have to arbitrarily change your creative vision to work within the constraints. But as you think about things like more and more open world games, more living, dynamic universes that players spend time in, we wanted to remove the technology barriers and enable developers to do super creative things. And really, that innovation is going to be on the CPU on the IO side. The CPU on the IO sides are also the areas that are usually least scalable from a game engine perspective.
So it was important to invest heavily there. For example, the introduction of the NVMe SSD as part of the Xbox velocity architecture. We designed the Xbox velocity architecture to be the ultimate solution for game asset streaming. And it works as an effective memory multiplier beyond the physical memory that's in the box because we have such superfast IO speeds, that there are entire classes of assets you don't even need to load into memory until just before you need them. So it opens up a whole swath of new capabilities for game developers.
In The Medium, as an example, there are certain things they are doing in that game, that they've had these ideas for many, many years, but it's just the technology was that barrier for them. And now with this next generation, those barriers don't exist. So they're able to provide true transformative gameplay experiences you would never be able to do on current generation or older generation consoles, because the technology was not at a point that allowed them to deliver on that.
Microsoft has talked about the framerates Series X will enable. But are you saying the Xbox Series X effectively ends sub 60 frames per second games, either from Xbox itself or from third-parties?
Jason Ronald: I wouldn't say it ends it, but now the creative control is in the developers' hands. Ultimately, we view resolution and framerate as a creative decision. Sometimes, from a pure gameplay aspect, 30 is the right creative decision they can make. But in previous generations, sometimes you had to sacrifice framerate for resolution. With this next generation, now it's completely within the developers' control. And even if you're building a competitive game, or an esports game, or a twitch fighter or first-person shooter, 60 frames is not the ceiling anymore. As we've seen on PC and other ecosystems, ultra high framerates and ultra low latency input, that is the precision they prefer to prioritise. So we've designed the system to put that creative control in developers hands.
Everything you've talked about makes the Xbox Series X sound incredibly powerful for a console, but I wince when I think about how much it's going to cost. What should people expect?
Jason Ronald: I think Phil [Spencer]'s been pretty transparent. We designed the system with a price point in mind. We're confident in the system we've designed, but at the same time, we're going to be agile on price.
The short of it is we designed the system with a price point in mind, and it influenced the overall architecture of the system we have. You know, it's kind of funny - as a lifelong gamer and as a game developer, we all always want more and more and more. At the same time, we know we have to deliver something at a compelling price point people all across the world are comfortable with and can afford. So it has been a key into the design of the system. And to be blunt, we're pretty excited about what we put into that form factor.
You'll have Xbox Series X for Christmas. What does this mean for Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox One X, and potentially even more consoles? Aren't you creating a confusing offering for consumers? Will you discontinue any models to make the proposition clearer? What's your attitude running into the crucial Christmas period for that?
Jason Ronald: It'll become more clear as we get closer to launch. We don't think we're going to have a confusing SKU offering. But at the same time, we have tens of millions of people who have Xbox One consoles today. And we understand not everybody is going to choose to upgrade to the next generation immediately. We still have millions of players playing on Xbox 360 today as well. So what's important to us is we continue to support those ecosystems. Game developers will also continue to support both Xbox One and the Xbox Series X.
You know, I actually have both generations of consoles in my house. And it's important to me I can continue to play the games I want with the people I want on the devices I want. So I don't think it'll be a confusing SKU lineup or customer confusion. It's really about making sure our players have choice, and for our existing players, we provide an easy path for them to move forward if they choose to.
You have talked about obviously more powerful visuals for games, ray tracing, virtually instant loading. But does the Xbox Series X enable any sort of gameplay innovations we haven't seen before or are not possible on any other platforms?
Jason Ronald: The answer is kind of yes across the board. Obviously, with all the advances we have in GPU power and GPU efficiency, not only is it the raw power, but it's also the innovations on top of that, things like ray tracing for better lighting, better reflections, higher quality shadows, as well as more immersive audio experiences. You also have things like variable rate shading. Beyond the raw power we're delivering, we're giving developers a lot of tools to be that much more efficient in how they use t he power we're giving them.
But the real game changers from a gameplay and a game design perspective are actually on the CPU on the IO (data transfer speed) side. Today's current generation titles often are bottlenecked on the CPU on the IO side, and it's really constraining what you do as a game designer. And sometimes you have to arbitrarily change your creative vision to work within the constraints. But as you think about things like more and more open world games, more living, dynamic universes that players spend time in, we wanted to remove the technology barriers and enable developers to do super creative things. And really, that innovation is going to be on the CPU on the IO side. The CPU on the IO sides are also the areas that are usually least scalable from a game engine perspective.
So it was important to invest heavily there. For example, the introduction of the NVMe SSD as part of the Xbox velocity architecture. We designed the Xbox velocity architecture to be the ultimate solution for game asset streaming. And it works as an effective memory multiplier beyond the physical memory that's in the box because we have such superfast IO speeds, that there are entire classes of assets you don't even need to load into memory until just before you need them. So it opens up a whole swath of new capabilities for game developers.
In The Medium, as an example, there are certain things they are doing in that game, that they've had these ideas for many, many years, but it's just the technology was that barrier for them. And now with this next generation, those barriers don't exist. So they're able to provide true transformative gameplay experiences you would never be able to do on current generation or older generation consoles, because the technology was not at a point that allowed them to deliver on that.
Microsoft has talked about the framerates Series X will enable. But are you saying the Xbox Series X effectively ends sub 60 frames per second games, either from Xbox itself or from third-parties?
Jason Ronald: I wouldn't say it ends it, but now the creative control is in the developers' hands. Ultimately, we view resolution and framerate as a creative decision. Sometimes, from a pure gameplay aspect, 30 is the right creative decision they can make. But in previous generations, sometimes you had to sacrifice framerate for resolution. With this next generation, now it's completely within the developers' control. And even if you're building a competitive game, or an esports game, or a twitch fighter or first-person shooter, 60 frames is not the ceiling anymore. As we've seen on PC and other ecosystems, ultra high framerates and ultra low latency input, that is the precision they prefer to prioritise. So we've designed the system to put that creative control in developers hands.
Everything you've talked about makes the Xbox Series X sound incredibly powerful for a console, but I wince when I think about how much it's going to cost. What should people expect?
Jason Ronald: I think Phil [Spencer]'s been pretty transparent. We designed the system with a price point in mind. We're confident in the system we've designed, but at the same time, we're going to be agile on price.
The short of it is we designed the system with a price point in mind, and it influenced the overall architecture of the system we have. You know, it's kind of funny - as a lifelong gamer and as a game developer, we all always want more and more and more. At the same time, we know we have to deliver something at a compelling price point people all across the world are comfortable with and can afford. So it has been a key into the design of the system. And to be blunt, we're pretty excited about what we put into that form factor.
You'll have Xbox Series X for Christmas. What does this mean for Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox One X, and potentially even more consoles? Aren't you creating a confusing offering for consumers? Will you discontinue any models to make the proposition clearer? What's your attitude running into the crucial Christmas period for that?
Jason Ronald: It'll become more clear as we get closer to launch. We don't think we're going to have a confusing SKU offering. But at the same time, we have tens of millions of people who have Xbox One consoles today. And we understand not everybody is going to choose to upgrade to the next generation immediately. We still have millions of players playing on Xbox 360 today as well. So what's important to us is we continue to support those ecosystems. Game developers will also continue to support both Xbox One and the Xbox Series X.
You know, I actually have both generations of consoles in my house. And it's important to me I can continue to play the games I want with the people I want on the devices I want. So I don't think it'll be a confusing SKU lineup or customer confusion. It's really about making sure our players have choice, and for our existing players, we provide an easy path for them to move forward if they choose to.
