Wardogs Dev Holding Back Certain Features Because of Xbox Series S, but Working to 'Very Low-End Hardware' Has Its Benefits

The developer of Wardogs has admitted that the limitations of the Xbox Series S have stopped it from adding certain things to the game, but insisted these limits have also provided some unique benefits.

During a press conference for Wardogs Season 2, Bulkhead CEO Joe Brammer said the team is "limited" by the Xbox Series S and revealed that this is one of the reasons why the game doesn't have dynamic weather right now. The new rain feature being added to Wardogs this month will be persistent throughout a match, meaning a storm won't suddenly roll through halfway through a game and lighten up within 15 minutes. It's a constant downpour.

"We are limited, as every dev is, by Xbox Series S," said Brammer. "As great a platform as Xbox is, it's a very low-end hardware for a game like Wardogs. We have to be mindful of these things we're putting in the game now. Performance is the reason we don't do it, but we would love to see it at some point. There's an ambition for it, but nobody is working on it right now."

Bulkhead isn't the first team to acknowledge difficulties around Microsoft's cheaper console, which launched alongside the Xbox Series X in November 2020. Moon Studio founder Thomas Mahler stated earlier this year that it was delaying No Rest for the Wicked's Xbox release due to troubles with the Xbox Series S. Baldur's Gate 3 also came to Xbox a few months late and required the help of Microsoft's engineers to get the game's split-screen co-op working on Series S.

Indeed, one of the questions facing Microsoft ever since the release of the Xbox Series S is whether it would be willing to allow developers and publishers to release a game on Xbox Series X only, leaving Xbox Series S behind. As it stands, Xbox mandates that video games launch on both or none at all, and that there should be main feature parity between each version.

Although Wardogs isn't coming to console until 2028, Bulkhead is hyper-aware of how everything it puts in the game could impact consoles in the future. In a follow-up interview exclusive to IGN, studio co-founder Howard Philpott echoed sentiments about possibly adding dynamic weather in the future, but noted Bulkhea would have to handle it carefully to avoid tanking performance. He added that, while Series S has its pitfalls, it also lets the developer optimize the game for lower-end PCs.

"As for Series S, Joe is right, and it's not an industry secret or anything," he said. "It is holding back what developers can do in terms of pushing the boundaries because it's so far behind par in terms of the rest of the power of the rest of the consoles. So yeah, it's something we have to be cognizant of, but at the same time, Series S does actually give us that baseline performance.

"We were so heavy [during] pre-release in terms of talking about performance for PC, and what we didn't necessarily talk about [during the] press conference was how much Series S drove us to make the performance good on lower-spec PCs, because the goal is to get everyone to be able to play with all of their friends. There's an obvious financial benefit to that, so it's not completely altruistic, but at the same time, it is the goal. That is the point of the game: being able to play with as many people as possible."

Philpott also noted that Bulkhead has always imagined Wardogs as a multi-platform game. The team recognized there was heavy demand for controller support prior to Wardogs' early access launch, prompting them to quickly put something together. He stated that this support is in "an okay serviceable state, but really it needs to be a lot better." Senior producer Kane Allard noted that situation has prompted Bulkhead to be more "forward thinking."

"I think that's a good example of one of the things that bit us a bit and made us realize actually we do need to be forward thinking," said Allard. "We made the decision, as Howard said, originally we were releasing on PC for early access, and it was kind of an afterthough, we need to have controller support. And then we realized there was a massive outcry for it, and we had to look back at the systems we had and try and make them work with controller, and there was a fair amount of work there. And yeah, we did do it in the end and it was a little bit of a slog, but that did burn us a bit. And we then realized, yeah, we need to be really smart, build stuff with console in mind, with controller in mind, and we're taking that forward for everything that we put in the game."

It will be a while before Wardogs makes its way to consoles, but this is a major part of the game's journey. Philpott also said that Bulkhead hired a pro Halo player to help with controller support and ensuring that it gets an extra level of care.

Wardogs Season 2 will launch next week on October 15.