GTA 6 could hit only 720p on Xbox Series S, as per a popular analyst
While the gaming community is eagerly waiting to experience GTA 6's gameplay firsthand, a popular analyst from Digital Foundry named John Linneman (X/@dark1x) has claimed that Rockstar Games might only provide 720p resolution for the title on Xbox Series S. He also explained why a lower resolution on the console version is possible.
Readers are advised to take the information with a grain of salt as Rockstar Games has yet to reveal Grand Theft Auto 6's gameplay for the Xbox Series S.
Gaming analyst explains why GTA 6 could run only at 720p on the Xbox Series S
After seeing the details in some GTA 6 footage, John Linneman stated (in the video above) that Rockstar Games might prioritize the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X when it comes to its upcoming title. This would mean that the Series S could be maxed out at 720p resolution. His exact words were:
“It’s probably a PS5, Xbox Series X target in the trailer, I would say. So, we could assume maybe 720p target Series S.”
It is worth noting that Microsoft released the Xbox Series S as a tuned-down version of the Xbox Series X. The latter is bigger in size and has more hardware and software capacities.
The company claims that the smaller console can produce 1440p resolution. However, Linneman has explained why it might not be possible for GTA 6's gameplay to run smoothly at this resolution.
He said:
“I feel like if they’re going this hard on the ray-tracing effects, they can’t really just like rip them out. You can’t just say, oh I’m gonna turn this off, like, you need a fallback.”
In simple words, since Rockstar Games already showcased advanced graphical effects in the Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer, they cannot exclude them from the Xbox Series S version of the game as if they were never there.
Therefore, Linneman believes the studio would have to lower the title’s resolution so that the gameplay looks good with all the visual effects.
While this is a genuine concern, readers should note that Rockstar Games is known as a master in game optimizations. Grand Theft Auto 5 was released on the Xbox 360, which had only 512 MB of RAM. Therefore, we’ll have to wait till the GTA 6 release date to see how the game runs on Xbox Series S.