Remedy has shared the latest patch notes for Alan Wake 2, and there are some little devils in the details.
PlayStation 5 version 1.200.002 added gyro and haptics support with the DualSense controller, and added support for the PlayStation 5 Pro. As we reported yesterday, Remedy was able to live up to their promise of getting Alan Wake 2 running on the PlayStation 5 Pro at 4K 60 FPS, with the help of their PSSR upscaler.
However, Remedy also revealed that Xbox update 1.2.0.2 has this specific update for the Xbox Series S:
“[XBox Series S] Increased internal render resolution from 1280 x 720 to 1505 x 847. “
So it seems that Remedy found opportunities for improvement on the Xbox Series S, months after the game’s initial release. This improvement looks like it could be related to the optimization that Remedy put into the PlayStation 5 Pro, as if Remedy found a solution on Sony’s next console that also led them to finding improvements elsewhere.
That certainly sounds like what Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian Studios said about Xbox Series S last year. After a controversy over the game being delayed on Xbox Series X|S, Larian revealed that they found new ways to optimize the game on the Xbox Series S. They then confirmed that they would apply this improvement to all other platforms across the board.
Subsequently, GSC Game World had to make clarifications last August that they got S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl running at 35 FPS, not 25 FPS, on Xbox Series S. This was a comparatively minor flub on a developer’s part, that obviously got overblown after gamers got their hands on it.
At the end of last month, GSC then shared a major update, that they were able to get S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl running at 60 FPS on Xbox Series S. While it isn’t stable yet, GSC plans to produce a Performance Mode just for the Xbox Series S to make it reality for the console.
While we know of a lot of game developers who have their grievances in making games for the Xbox Series S, there is sufficient proof that developers can get great performance from the console if they work on it. Now that we know that nearly half of all Xbox Series users are on the Xbox Series S side, developers do have to take those players seriously.
So yes, they do have to put that extra effort in, even if it can be inconvenient or frustrating for the developers. There are Xbox gamers who they have to service too, because what would be the point if you are only reaching out to half of Xbox Series owners?
