"I wish hardware like the Xbox Series S wouldn't be released" - former Tekken director Katsuhiro Harada trashes Microsoft's console in front of senior Xbox staff

Players who own the Xbox Series S may be the reason developers have to cut texture resolution and other graphics, according to Katsuhiro Harada, the former head of the Tekken series. Speaking at a public panel attended by an Xbox representative, Harada said it would have been easier for studios if Microsoft had never released the console at all. He described the Series S as "a slightly weaker child" that forces developers to do extra work, and joked that he fears a similar budget model, a hypothetical Helix S, in the next Xbox generation.

The remarks came at the Console Game Developers Conference 2026 in South Korea, according to iXBT.games, which cited Inven Global. The panel also included former Sony Interactive Entertainment president Shuhei Yoshida, Shift Up technical director Dong Ki Lee, Too Kyo Games head Kazutaka Kodaka, CD Projekt RED associate game director Paweł Sasko and Ludeon Studios head Tynan Sylvester. The group discussed the benefits of developing for consoles and the difficulties of adapting projects across platforms.

Harada's complaint was not only about the console's memory. He said the problem lies in its design: the Series S is very similar to the Xbox Series X but has noticeably weaker performance, so developers must build a version that runs the same titles on much more modest specifications. He contrasted that with the Nintendo Switch 2, which studios treat from the start as a distinct platform aimed at Nintendo's audience.

The scale of the Series S audience makes those limits hard to ignore, Harada said. In some markets, including the US, there are more Xbox Series S owners than Series X users, so developers cannot simply skip the device. Once games ship, complaints about reduced texture resolution and other graphical downgrades tend to land on developers rather than on Microsoft, he argued.

Sasko offered a more mixed view. He said the Series S "constantly throws challenges at us" and forces the team to optimize program code with particular care, which PC Gamer reported. He also pointed to the upside: optimizing for less powerful hardware can improve performance on other platforms. He cited Cyberpunk 2077, where work on the Nintendo Switch 2 version benefited other editions of the game. Sasko added that the Series S's affordable price helps Microsoft expand the console audience and reach players not ready to buy the more expensive Series X. Harada joked that Sasko argued the case so well that the Microsoft representative in the audience was constantly nodding along.

The panel left one practical question open. Lee said his team is ready to start developing for Microsoft's next console, working title Xbox Helix, as early as possible if it receives a development kit in South Korea. Whether a lower-cost model returns in that generation, and how developers would balance it against the wider audience Harada described, was not settled.