As revealed last month, Microsoft is officially planning to release the Xbox Series S alongside the upcoming Series X as a more affordable, lower-spec alternative this November. While the Series S doesn't have all of the technical bells and whistles of the Series X, from what we've seen so far the upcoming console still will offer a capable next-gen experience at a lower price point, as shown by what the developers of Dirt 5 have achieved with the console and developing the racing title.

Speaking in an interview with Digital Foundry, Codemasters technical director David Springate offered some additional details on the upcoming Dirt 5, which will release for both current-gen and next-gen platforms this fall. Specifically, Springate shared some insight on the experience of developing for the Xbox Series S, and how the studio was able to achieve high-end performance on Microsoft's scaled-down console.

Overall, Springate expressed that development on the Series S has been "really easy," and that Microsoft has essentially pitched that on a technical level, the Series S offers a similar level of performance as the Series X, but targeting 1440p instead of 4K. Springate stated that while the Series S has less RAM, he explained that the overall process of scaling the experience back to suit the console (while retaining visual fidelity) has been relatively seamless, such as dialing back resolution and other graphical aspects such as shadow quality, the amount of environmental objects, or the intensity of effects such as weather.

Springate expressed that on a technical level, the team has been optimizing specific builds of the game across each different platform for specific needs, such as tailoring builds that optimize graphical fidelity and performance on each specific platform, whether that is the PS5/Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, or the current-gen platforms. However, in the case of the Series S, Springate's comments emphasize that the Series S seems to be aiming to deliver an experience similar to the Series X, but still retaining peak visuals at a scaled-down level.

Dirt 5 will release for PS4, Xbox One, and PC on November 6, 2020, followed by Xbox Series X and Series S on November 10, 2020. The game will launch at a later date on PS5 and Google Stadia.