Xbox Series S Backwards Compatibility Explained

Published 09/20/2020, 10:20 AM EDT

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The Xbox Series S might be the smallest member of the Microsoft console family, but it’s packed with huge potential. Fans are already banking on the Series S to become an affordable gateway to the next-gen of gaming. And the console could very well succeed in being so.

There has been a lot of talk about backwards compatibility in the upcoming consoles, and so Eurogamer talked to one Series S developers about it.

Further reading: PlayStation CEO Questions Xbox Series S Strategy

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The Series S console features impressive hardware with 8-core AMD Zen 2 CPU, 10GB GDDR6 RAM, and the AMD RDNA 2 GPU. The console will run titles dating back to the first Xbox (2001) to Xbox One titles with backwards compatibility.

Eurogamer tested the backwards compatibility of Xbox Series S

The tests Eurogamer ran showed that with its powerful hardware, the Series S was able to run games from previous consoles at an enhanced resolution of 1440p. So not only will the Series run those games, but it will also run them with a much-improved resolution than the native 480p/720p. However, it will not work on the games that have a hard-coded fixed resolution.

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The Series S console packs powerful hardware in a small size.

While the smallest console in the Xbox family will run the Xbox One S variations of titles, it won’t run the One X variations. This is entirely due to the difference in Series S and One X’s RAM. One X consoles feature 12GB of RAM, which is slightly higher than the 10GB of GDDR6 RAM in Series S. Hence, the Series X will be a more suitable choice for such titles.

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The console will give users a superior rendition and improved texture filtering quality than the previous generations of consoles. Moreover, the Series S uses a solid-state drive, which reduces loading times significantly, along with stable gameplay and increased frame rates.

Overall, the backwards compatibility on Series S looks like a win, as of now.

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Written by:

Samyarup Chowdhury

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Samyarup Chowdhury is an eSports author at EssentiallySports since June 2020. An avid gamer since his childhood, Samyarup has played many titles such as GTA Vice City, IGI, and FIFA, among others. Currently, he is a rather defensive fan of Valorant and the Assassin's Creed franchise.
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