Xbox Series X could trounce PS5 with this killer feature

Xbox Serial Ten could vanquish PS5 with this killer feature

(Prototype credit: Shutterstock)

Microsoft's Xbox Serial Ten will aim to keep game file sizes as small equally possible then users can get the about out of its storage, and is another shot across the bow of Sony'southward PS5.

In an interview with Gamespot, Jason Ronald, Xbox managing director of plan management, spoke about the means in which Microsoft'south new console will aim to use its internal SSD every bit efficiently as possible. Specifically, the Series X will use compression technology.

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A lot of modern games now top 100 GB in size, which can quickly consume hard drive space; fifty-fifty the terabyte drive of the Xbox One X can exist filled up pretty quickly if ane downloads a suite of triple-A games. And so a way to reduce the size of games could be welcome news for people looking at getting a next-generation Xbox.

Ronald explained how the Xbox Series 10 volition utilise a new codec for farther compressing texture data; that data contains graphical avails which are one of the largest contributors to a games overall size. The BCPack codec will take the standard "cake compress" in the games industry and add further pinch upon it.

This will effectively reduce the "bodily size of the assets" and upshot in games that take up less storage space and use less retentiveness, effectively offering better overall performance.

Ronald also pointed to the Xbox Series 10's power to download games in a piecemeal format. We knew that this would exist expert for people who only want admission to either a game's multiplayer or single-player modes but not both; Ronald explained that this feature goes further.

"Developers tin besides take advantage of a platform feature to merely install the pieces of the game players need, thereby minimizing the amount of content that needs to be installed or downloaded to the SSD. We're providing a lot of tools to assist them be more than efficient," Ronald said. "If you lot're on an English language console, [you lot shouldn't] exist taking space for French or Spanish audio files, things like that."

Admittedly, these enhancements won't stop your console'due south storage from filling upwardly rapidly if you install a few big games on it. "Ultimately at that place is no silver bullet", said Ronald.

He also said that despite these efforts, there was no force per unit area on game developers to make their games deliberately small: "We don't want to arbitrarily constrain our developers in the worlds that they desire to create, but at the same time too gamers go far very articulate, they don't want to download 300GB games."

The Xbox Serial X, and the rival PS5, are both expected to appear in Nov this year. Both volition offer numerous upgrades over the Xbox One and PS4, such as ray-tracing graphics and custom SSD storage.

Richard is a Tom's Guide staff writer based in London, covering news, reviews and how-tos for phones, gaming, audio and whatever else people need communication on. Following on from his MA in Magazine Journalism at the Academy of Sheffield, he'southward also written for WIRED U.K., The Register and Creative Bloq. When not at work, he's probable thinking almost how to brew the perfect cup of specialty coffee.