Xbox’s Phil Spencer Says Series S Changes to Baldur’s Gate 3 Aren’t About Parity

Changes to Baldur's Gate 3 on the Xbox Series S are disappointing to fans, but Head of Xbox Phil Spencer believes the console is important.

[mandf]

It's important because it sold way more than the x.

[Jin_Sakai]

The only reason Series S exist is to boost Xbox sales so they don’t look so bad. Funny thing is they still look bad.

[QuantumMechanic]

The Series S console exists to sell GamePass and to try to move the console market closer to a subscription-only business model.

[EvertonFC]

Agreed, series X would be below 10m in 3 years imo if it wasn't for the series S.
Starfield is their 1st game really in 3 years which is totally embarrassing in itself really.

[sagapo]

@Everton: so basicly you’re saying that MS made the right call launching the seriesS as it sells better than SeriesX (according to you)?

[Sitdown]

So in your mind, Microsoft ultimately created the Series S so they don't look so bad, and not because of it's ability to bring in profit, and funnel people to their bigger plan of GamePass. The ignorance of N4G never fails. If only you could take your feelings out it, and think along the lines of people running a successful company, not fanboy wars.

[Jin_Sakai]

@Sitdown

“If only you could take your feelings out it, and think along the lines of people running a successful company, not fanboy wars.“

If only you knew that developers hate dealing with Series S and have trouble getting their games running on it which are causing delays.

[Rynxie]

Oh you mean, so Ms can once again try and push their anti consumer policies? No wonder they're trying to buy up the industry as well.

I honestly wish Ms would leave the industry and another manufacturer can step in.

[jznrpg]

If it’s to pad numbers or sell gamepass subs either way it’s not working out so well.

[S2Killinit]

They are trying to leave them behind. Its insane!

[shadowT]

Xbox Series X owners can block now Series S in online fights, if needed. Bandai Namco just annouced this for the new Naruto game, according IGN report.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

Wow, I'm surprised that's actually a thing, I see the point of doing it, but wow.

[Popsicle]

Wow! What a mess Xbox has created for themselves.

[fr0sty]

Now they're being forced to "quietly" abandon the parity clause, while denying that they actually are. "We've always had features in X games that weren't in S, like ray tracing!" ... sure, Phil, those were not gameplay features, they were graphical enhancements. There's an ocean of difference between that and something that actually affects the way the game is played, like removing split screen or being able to ban players from the S from interacting with players on X.

[S2Killinit]

Its crazy. All these people that bought into their representations…

[gold_drake]

gotta give it to Phil, delusions are a powerful thing indeed.

and of course the community is talking about it when a dev team has to cut an entire gamemode to make it work on the S.

[InUrFoxHole]

They didn't say it was impossible. They said they needed more time.

[gerbintosh]

Time MS wasn't willing to wait on. IMO I don't think the feature is coming to the Series S in the future. No point since the game would have already been released for a while and Series S customers would be used to not having it

[InUrFoxHole]

That's a fair assessment. MS painted themselves into a corner with the S and parity. I think they talked to devs prior to production and expected them to be able to do more with the tool kits. It's MS fault in the end. Make the tools you give devs easy to work with

[TheLigX]

He’s a corporate mouthpiece. It’s not delusion, it’s outright dishonesty. Dude is totally aware of his BS.

[S2Killinit]

Bingo

[Destiny1080]

180p split screen, was not feasible, hopefully are s friends wont be two disappointed

[Eonjay]

Was it really that bad?

[shinoff2183]

Fking spin Dr.

[S2Killinit]

He is trying to make it seem like the gamers are the ones pushing for it. In reality MS are doing something that they shouldn’t be allowed to do to consumers.

[isarai]

Pardon me if I take the word of the devs that actually have to do the work, over you who repeatedly lies.

[Christopher]

Then why did it take so long? Why did it take 5m sold in the first week to come to that decision and not two or three months ago so it could release same day and date as PS5?

Make it make sense.

[-Foxtrot]

Because he only reacts when something is popular and is gaining attention

[Charlieboy333]

That's Microsoft in general....

[DivineHand125]

There are 2 reasons for this decision I can think of. One is that previous developers who complained about the series S gave no specific reasons as to why it is making them struggle with development. If I was running Xbox that would not be enough to allow you to omit features from the Series S.

Larian Studios made public that the series S is struggling with split screen gameplay and because of this they will delay the game on Xbox. It seems that after meeting with Phil they came to some agreement.

The second reason here is that as many of you might point out, the game is one of the best performing games on PC that will be released exclusively on PS5. If I were in Phil's shoes, I would do everything I can to bring that to Xbox.

[rippermcrip]

Microsoft can't act like they didn't know. They make games too. Halo Infinite's local coop never came because of the Series S. They know exactly about this topic.

[dumahim]

@rippermcrip
It wasn't because of the S. You can force the game to run split screen and it even works on the Xbox One. It just needed polishing and bug fixes.

[S2Killinit]

Because gimping the Series S has legal and image ramifications for MS. They represented the series S as the SAME console. People believed them. Now, MS has a dilemma.

[IRetrouk]

He lies so much, and people just eat it up🤣
https://ibb.co/MZTqtWr
It's gone from lower resolution to cutting game modes but calling them features, even though the series s was promised to do everything the x could do just at reduced resolution, and I'll quote the original promise while im at it, you know, the one from the video ms removed from their youtube channel. "The same experiance and features, just at a reduced resolution"

[repsahj]

Phil has an excuse for everything. XD

[Markdn]

Can always tell when Phils telling fibs cause his mouth is open.

[talocaca]

He also said that the only difference between Series S and X versions would only be resolution....clearly not the case 3 years in.

[Profchaos]

I think mostly everyone who didn't drink the cool aid realised this made zero sense long-term once crossgen ended but places like IGN hype the system to the point where even mum and day shoppers think buying a series s for little johnny at Xmas was basically the same as a x

[jwillj2k4]

Says it’s not about parity, proceeds to describe it’s about parity.

[Hofstaderman]

This man and his lies 😳

[Soulsborne]

Philly boy holding back the entire industry single handedly, impressive.

[Vengeance1138]

Nice damage control there, Phil lol Keep lying as you do ;)

[rippermcrip]

Utter BS that he is comparing ray-tracing to gameplay features. Everyone knows that the S was going to have reduced graphical abilities, which is what ray-tracing is. That was expected.

No one expected gameplay elements or modes to be removed.

[smashman98]

Phil is choosing his words carefully because he knows that a slip up could result in a class action lawsuit.

[shinoff2183]

That actually sums it up pretty well

[Eonjay]

It's insane that Microsoft let go of the power narrative and traded it for an underpowered narrative. What exactly is the point of the X if it is held back by the S?

[XBManiac]

It's about how much money and time you invest on each version and how much money will get in return for your inversion.

[anast]

Don't worry Philly, you have enough stupid people that will defend your ability to stay rich.

[Chocoburger]

This man makes me happy to be out of the Xbox ecosystem.
I'll always cherish my Original Xbox and Xbox 360, but everything after that has been a disaster.

[Popsicle]

Good decision. Towards the end of the 360s life is when Microsoft stopped listening to what gamers wanted and started imposing onto gamers what Microsoft wanted.

[CrimsonWing69]

If I look up the definition of parity it states, "the state or condition of being equal," I think when applied to the "parity clause" for gaming it has been used in terms of a game running on both systems. Xbox will not let one game only play on Xbox Series X and it not play on Xbox Series S.

But let's make no mistake here, despite performance differences, hasn't every game released shared gameplay features like co-op? I understand ray tracing and frame rate not matching, but this is literally a gameplay feature that isn't some visual fidelity setting or optimization.

In fact, you a-holes weren't going to allow the game to be released on the platform until they got this working on the S. Now, that it's some big release you all changed your tune and are now saying, "Well, it's not a parity thing because ray tracing and frame rate are features that S games don't share with X, so it's like that."

We're not idiots here, it's not us talking out of our asses saying this was a parity issue, y'all made that clear when you delayed the launch of Baldur's Gate 3 due to this issue and not getting it to work on S. Sh*t, I mean it still doesn't work on S so if this wasn't a parity issue why make such a fuss on delaying the game for Series X then?

[neomahi]

Dude, don't talk down to me or talk to me like I'm an idiot. I KNOW you blew it with Xbox One and you're still trying to dig yourself out, meaning you've got to kiss everyones butt to do it. You're telling everyone openness and transparency is what you're all about but you know just as well as I do how much of a lying statement that is too. It's business and you can't be transparent in business without exposing skeletons in your closet, because business is about screwing people over. Don't lie to me

[mastershredder]

Important as in 'Important pain in the ass'.

[raWfodog]

I would have had the utmost respect (and shock) if he just came out and admitted that they may need to relax the parity requirement on a case-by-case moving forward in order to ensure that their gamers don't miss out on these big releases. Many of us can recognize that statements we made in the past no longer hold up today. But I guess these CEOs (like politicians) don't like admitting that they were wrong.

[flak]

Usual negative comments, it's not like people are dying because they can't play split screen.
Or starving, as have no money. In the grand scheme of life it's really not that important.