New video shows ray-tracing running on the $300 Xbox Series S

Ray-tracing has been shown running on a $300 Xbox Series S retail console for the first time, via Watch Dogs Legion.

The next-gen version of the open-world title is due to release alongside Xbox’s next-gen consoles on Tuesday, and while it was known that the cheaper hardware would support the next-gen visual feature, this is the first time it’s been shown running on a retail console.

As demonstrated by YouTuber MVGamer, Watch Dogs Legion runs at 1080p / 30fps on Series S with ray-tracing enabled (the feature seemingly cannot be turned off). The Series X version, meanwhile, runs at 4K / 30fps with ray-tracing also enabled.

Although Microsoft had committed to ray-traced games on the Series S, it was previously unclear how many titles would use the feature due to its significant hit on performance.

Capcom recently confirmed that Xbox Series S would not support ray-tracing for Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition, while the Xbox Series X version would.

The $300 / £250 Series S targets running games at 1440p, with support for ray-tracing, 120fps and 4K upscaling. The console has virtually the same CPU as the $500 / £450 Series X, but a less powerful GPU, less memory and no disc drive.

Launching worldwide on November 10, Xbox Series X is priced at $499/€499/£449 and Xbox Series S costs $300/$300/£249.

In VGC’s Xbox Series X review, our critic called the console “an excellent console with some meaningful next-gen features, waiting for the software that will truly take it to the next level.”

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