Ex-Tekken director slams Xbox Series S

A former Tekken director has publicly criticised the Xbox Series S, reportedly telling senior Xbox staff that developing for it feels like having to do extra work for a slightly weaker child. The comment, as reported by PC Gamer, puts a spotlight on a recurring challenge in the games industry: building one game that runs well across machines with very different capabilities.

For developers, that tension is daily work. Lower-spec hardware often means extra optimisation, compromised settings or cut features, and that cost lands on engineering and production teams. For platform holders, feedback like this is a signal about where developer experience needs to improve.

For anyone building a career in games development, QA or technical art, this is a useful reminder that performance targets shape real workloads. Understanding how to scale a project across hardware tiers is becoming a valuable skill.

What do you think is the right balance between affordable hardware and developer experience? Share your view.