Xbox boss says Series X upgrade will feel ‘as dramatic as 2D to 3D’

Xbox boss Phil Spencer has said he believes that the upcoming console generation will change the feel of games “as dramatically as any since 2D to 3D.”

Spencer made the comment in a Twitter reply on Monday, In which he stated that Xbox Series X’s CPU upgrade, Dynamic Latency Input (DLI), memory bandwidth and SSD would all contribute to a significant shift in how games play.

In particular, Spencer said he was “very focused” on the work Xbox is doing around latency.

Xbox Series X is set to introduce a number of features designed at reducing latency, which is the measurement of how long it takes for a piece of data to travel from one point to another in a system, usually measured in milliseconds (ms).

Analogue input such as stick and trigger movement usually has an input delay of 8ms on previous Xbox consoles, however, Xbox claims that Series X will all but eliminate this and send the most up-to-date control data to the console just before it’s needed by the game.

In addition, the controller will now constantly monitor for and transmit button state changes, while the input stack on the console itself has been completely redesigned.

“While it may be difficult to notice the improved latency from any one of these improvements alone, when they all add up, it makes for a profoundly more responsive experience for players,” Xbox said on its official news site in March.

Xbox boss Spencer suggested last week that the platform holder will showcase Xbox Series X games in the near future.

Asked about plans for Xbox Series X software reveals on Twitter, Spencer said there won’t be “too much of a wait” before Microsoft shows off some more next-gen titles.

It has been claimed Microsoft is planning Xbox Series X reveals for May, in addition to a digital showcase around June, which matches with what VGC has been told.

Windows Central recently suggested Microsoft may be planning to show off some next-gen games next month, potentially 343 Industries’ launch title Halo Infinite and Playground Games’ Fable reboot.

It also claimed the company could announce a cheaper next-gen console, titled Xbox Series S, during a hardware reveal event in early May.

The long-rumoured console – previously referred to in leaks by the codename Lockhart – is designed to appeal to cost-conscious players and will target 4 teraflops of computing power (compared to the 12 of Series X), Windows Central reports.

The Xbox Series X logo was revealed in a trademark listing last week. The console is scheduled to launch during the 2020 holiday season.