Quantum Error is in an “Unacceptable” State on Xbox Series S Due to its Weaker Hardware, Developer Says

The recent leaks of Microsoft’s court documents for its recent trial against the FTC have dominated the news cycle for several days now, and more new nuggets of information are still continuing to filter through. For instance, it’s now also emerged that out of Microsoft’s two current-gen Xbox consoles, the less powerful (and cheaper one) had a significantly larger share of the market than its counterpart, at least as of early last year.

Over the weekend, over 120 documents were published to the United States District Court Northern District of California’s files website pertaining to the Federal Trade Commission v. Microsoft Corporation case regarding Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

Overnight on September 19, a huge Microsoft and Bethesda leak sprang from the Xbox FTC court documents. Information about new console plans, upcoming Xbox Series X games, and the company's reaction to defining industry events has emerged thanks to improperly-redacted court documents, giving a fascinating insight into one of gaming's biggest players, as well as details about a whole suite of new developments.

Quantum Error developer TeamKill Media has often spoken about how it’s leveraging the hardware of the PS5 to deliver a technically impressive experience with the upcoming cosmic horror shooter (to the extent that the PS4 version of the game ended up having to be cancelled), and a new trailer has shed more light on exactly what to expect from that front.

By Sheena Vasani, a writer covering commerce, e-readers, and tech news. She previously wrote about everything from web development to AI at Inside.

PS5 sales in the UK have jumped 60% year-to-date while sales of both Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch are down compared to last year.

Back when Quantum Error was first announced, developer TeamKill Media confirmed that it was in development for PS5 and PS4, with the latter version set to arrive sometime after the game’s initial launch on PS5. Earlier this year, however, the developer announced that the cosmic horror shooter’s PS4 version had been cancelled, saying that it would have required “too much downgrading and changing of assets, lighting, and much more to function”.

Maksym Yanchyi, lead Xbox programmer on Stalker 2, lets out a deep sigh. It’s not the first time Mak, as he’s called by his colleagues, steadies himself before revealing the horrifying difficulties the developers of one of the most anticipated shooters of 2024 face on a daily basis. Right now he’s talking about Russian hackers and their ongoing attempts to breach GSC Game World’s security systems, the constant harassment, and even death threats that have come from the theft of personal information.

Going from 'here is an RPG set in Boston and Massachusetts' to 'here is an RPG set in space' is a mind boggling task. Todd Howard, captain of the SS Starfield, definitely felt the weight of his mission during development, as revealed in a letter he sent to reviewers before the game's launch.

Sony's PS5 console is going strong in retail sales even when compared to the already highly successful predecessor, the PlayStation 4.

For Xbox boss Phil Spencer, the Xbox Series S is important to have out in the market. Talking to Eurogamer, Spencer was asked about that specific system and its place in both the console space currently and the game industry at large. 

While the Xbox Series S has always been a bit divisive, controversy over the machine, and whether its holding back current-gen development, has reached new heights. This has largely been spurred by Baldur’s Gate III, which is not launching on Xbox Series X/S because Larian Studios are having trouble splitscreen co-op working on the Series S. There is also increasing reports of Series-S-related grumbling among studios, as the reality of development is, you have to largely design multiplatform games around the limitations of the lowest spec hardware you’re releasing on.