Dune Awakening Exposes The Shortcomings of the Xbox Series S

Dune Awakening is a title fans have been excited about for a while. It was first revealed at Gamescom 2022 and recently showcased at Gamescom 2024 with a gameplay trailer that built a lot of hype for both longtime fans of the franchise and newcomers alike.

We know the game will first be released on PC in 2025, with subsequent PS5 and Xbox releases later. However, recent information has shown that it may be more difficult for Xbox fans to experience this popular upcoming title.

The latest reports have revealed that developing the game for the underpowered Series S console has been a hassle and has led to somewhat problematic development.

Chief product officer Scott Junior recently explained to vg247 that, during development, they discovered that optimizing the game on the “Xbox Series S is a challenge.”

However, this isn’t something we haven’t seen before, as other titles like Baldur’s Gate 3, for instance, had an issue regarding the split-screen co-op.

This led to delays for the Series S and Series X versions of the game and their releases on the two consoles coming out in separate states.

That said, the developers of Dune Awakening are still confident in their abilities to transfer the game onto different spec machines. When asked about hardware limitations for lower-end hardware, Junior stated that:

The Difficulty With Xbox Series S

This whole situation makes us question the validity of the Xbox Series S. Initially revealed as a budget option that is still reasonably equal to the Series X; the console was supposed to be able to do almost the same thing as its older brother, except not read physical disks.

Unfortunately, this has clearly not stood the test of time. From Bauldurs Gate 3 to Dune Awakening and others such as Control, there have been constant cases in which developers have major issues working on hardware that just isn’t up to snuff with its competition.

Our biggest hope is that Xbox ultimately separates the two consoles, making it so that the Series X and S don’t always share game releases on the same day.

This way, those on the better hardware can essentially play a game before it is optimized for the lower systems.

Nonetheless, at this point, it’s up to the developers to properly navigate this odd console landscape and hopefully make the most of it for their fans.