Microsoft has commented on this:
“Xbox Series S was designed to be the most affordable next generation console and play next generation games at 1440P at 60fps. To deliver the highest quality backwards compatible experience consistent with the developer’s original intent, the Xbox Series S runs the Xbox One S version of backward compatible games while applying improved texture filtering, higher and more consistent frame rates, faster load times and Auto HDR.”
I understand the reasoning behind this. From a marketing pov it keeps things simpler.
From a user pov it’s a bit annoying.
I don’t understand it to be honest. I understand that it’s not a 4K console, blablabla. But it’s powerful enough to do it. I hope they work on this after launch. Xbox 360 and Xbox One games should run 1440p on Series S.
Better than nothing I guess. Still slightly disappointed. So all current gen games will run in X1S mode with minor enhancements like faster loading.
I guess the question is : how well Cyberpunk2077 is running on Xbox One S ? Because if there is no patch for Series S at launch, people will be confused and disappointed. I hope they have some temporary patch or something before the RT patch.
This is about Xbox One X enhanced games. 
Who knows what CDPR will do for Series S.
So if the game has dynamic resolution and it is 900 on S wouldn’t it be logical it increases the resolution to 1080, at least, once the SX is more powerful? I mean, I don’t ubderstand why this can’t happen, but it is true for the fps due to the better CPU.
It will probably have an uncapped framerate or something so XSS could run it really well. The Witcher 3 had this happen, where unpatched it ran 60fps on X1X.
I think what you described will happen. It will scale those games to 1080p. Ya also get faster load times, auto-HDR (not sure if 1080p TV’s can make use of that though), better framerates…just no 4k textures that wouldn’t be noticed on a 1080p TV anyhow.
If this is true, I’m completely fine with it and pretty much expected, imo.
Wonder what resolution Forza Horizon 4, Sea of Thieves and Gears 5 will run on Series S.
Xbox One S / Xbox Series S.
Yeah, makes sense to me. Why anyone would think that Xbox Series S would be running Xbox Series X enhanced games at 4K despite the maximum resolution being 1440P is beyond me. SMH.
People need to understand that it’s the replacement for the One S not the One X. Getting the 1080p/1440p console to upscale the previous gen games up to 1080p/1440p at a higher/more stable frame rate is what should be expected. But ya know
Ok, so maybe I’m wrong but the patch for Series S and X is coming in early 2021, right ? So until then, Series X will play Xbox One X version and Series S the One S version at max resolution, of course.
I’m just guessing here, but I hope the game settings are good enough to play on Series S or I could see people being legitimately underwhelmed. At least, until the patch.
That was just my fear, but maybe they have something to make those two versions better on the next-gen consoles, until the big patch. I don’t know.
No surprise here, it has less RAM then the One X.
Could be, yes. Series S “little beast mode” it should be called !
And Witcher 3 has a 60FPS mode on X. It was Assassin’s Creed Unity which run at 60FPS on the X unpatched.
DF made a video on it I think. You have to play it on disk and offline.
Mildly disappointing I guess. I’ll be in less of a hurry to replace my Xbox One X with a Series S as my secondary Xbox.
That makes sense, though?
The Series S can’t do 4K Resolution. It will use the One S version with higher and more consistent frame rates, faster load times, Auto HDR and texture filtering.
That probably means that Forza Horizon 4 will run at 1080p and 60 FPS on the Series S + the faster load times, like they demonstrated with The Outer Worlds.
For games that use Dynamic Resolution, like the first The Division, which ranged from 1728x972 to a full 1080p on the One S and supported 4K on the One X, the Series S will probably run at a locked 1080p and improved framerate.
We will only know for sure closer to launch, though.
Despite the fact the Xbox Series S is capable of 1440p resolutions and 120 frames per second, the games need to be built and targeted specifically towards the Xbox Series S architecture. Older Xbox One games built on the “ERA” developmental platform will still get natural benefits from running on an Xbox Series S, including more stable frame rates, faster texture loading, and more consistent resolutions from games that use dynamic scaling. And of course, the Xbox Series S will have the NVME drive, providing much, much faster loading speeds.
This is also interesting because we are only talking about older games that have been enhanced for the One X. Future games will probably be optimized for the Series S and run much better at a locked 60FPS in Full HD. This probably includes Cyberpunk and even this Holiday’s big games, like Valhalla and Legion.
This makes perfect sense to me since series S has less ram then one x. It was never intended for 4k anything. As much as people want to find something to complain about this seems like a non issue. Series S is for people that don’t care about resolutions and just want to play games as cheaply as possible. If you have a 4k tv and want to actually take advantage of it just buy a series X. Don’t understand why people always got to find a negative with anything xbox. Most xbox games are dynamic resolution on one S so you will still see a benefit on series S just not 4k
