Microsoft doesn’t seem to be resting on its laurels when it comes to making improvements to the Xbox Series X/S consoles. The latest improvement comes from a new Xbox software development kit that Microsoft is providing to partners which should allow for greater performance from the Xbox Series S.
An official video from Microsoft was spotted by The Verge, and it appeared to be shown to development partners who have been given the new dev kit. In the video, Microsoft says, “Hundreds of additional megabytes of memory are now available to Xbox Series S developers.” The company continues: “This gives developers more control over memory, which can improve graphics performance in memory-constrained conditions.”
Microsoft’s Xbox Series S is its lower-priced current-gen console, which can still play the same games as the Xbox Series X and the PlayStation 5. However, its lower hardware specification means that it will play those games at often lower resolutions and overall quality. The video explains that Microsoft has now “addressed an issue where graphics virtual addresses were being allocated considerably slower than non-graphics virtual addresses.” In practice, this means that the Xbox Series X can now make use of improved memory management “without negatively affecting graphics performance.”
It’s no surprise that the console struggles to provide the same level of performance as the other current-gen machines. However, for its low price point, it has managed to produce some impressive results, and if Microsoft can improve it even further then that will only increase the value proposition of the more budget machine.
The YouTube description for Microsoft’s video reads: “With every release of the GDK, we take a step closer to a world where developing games for Xbox or PC Game Pass on Windows 10 and Windows 11 is faster and easier, no matter where you started your development. The June GDK release is an exciting one, with something for every type of game developer.”
