Katsuhiro Harada: Wish Hardware Like Xbox Series S Would Not Launch
Katsuhiro Harada criticized the Xbox Series S at a developer panel, saying its lower memory and performance create extra work for game studios. CD Projekt Red’s Paweł Sasko said optimizing for the console can also improve games across platforms, while Shift Up’s DongKi Lee voiced interest in Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox.
Katsuhiro Harada said at the Console Game Developers Conference 2026 in South Korea that he wished hardware like Xbox Series S would not be released, arguing its lower memory and performance complicate game development.
His comments drew a response from CD Projekt Red associate game director Paweł Sasko, who said the console’s constraints can force studios to optimize their code more carefully.
Harada’s criticism
Harada, formerly a director on the Tekken series and now CEO of VS Studio, made the remarks during a panel on console development and platform-specific challenges. A senior Xbox official was attending.
“Since a senior Xbox official is actually in attendance here today, I wish hardware like the Xbox Series S wouldn't be released,” Harada said.
He said the console’s low memory was a problem and described its performance as awkwardly weaker than the Xbox Series X, despite the two devices being similar. Harada said developers still face complaints when the Series S version has lower texture resolution.
Harada also argued that studios cannot reduce their effort for the console because, in markets such as the United States, Series S users outnumber Series X users. He said players direct complaints to developers rather than Microsoft.
Developers cite trade-offs
Sasko laughed before describing the work involved in supporting the console. “It constantly throws challenges at us and forces us to optimize our code very cleanly,” he said.
He also pointed to benefits from optimizing games for less powerful hardware. Sasko said that work can make titles run “significantly better” across platforms, and cited optimization for the Nintendo Switch 2 version of Cyberpunk 2077 as work later applied elsewhere.
Sasko also said the Xbox Series S’s lower price can help expand the market. Harada joked that Sasko had described the console’s shortcomings politely, then said he worried Microsoft might release a weaker model for its next-generation system.
Shift Up chief technology officer DongKi Lee said he was looking forward to the next-generation Xbox, referred to on the panel as “Helix.” He said, “if you provide us with a dev kit first in Korea as early as possible, we will put in our best efforts to develop for it.”
