Xbox Series S Trashed By Tekken Director Ketsuhiro Harada

Former Tekken Director Katsuhiro Harada Rips Apart Series S In Front Of Xbox Exec Custom image created by TheGamer, using Bandai Namco and Sergey Galyonkin assets. Published Nov 12, 2026, 5:56 AM EST James Lucas is the Lead Photo Editor at TheGamer and has worked in professional journalism since 2018. A Newcastle University graduate with a degree in Journalism, Media, and Culture, they have written hundreds of guides, news stories, and original reports, with bylines in IGN, NME, GaymingMag, and VG247, sourcing interviews with studio heads, legendary industry figures, prominent actors, and more. You can reach them at James.t@thegamer.com A senior Xbox official and former Tekken director Katsuhiro Harada walk into a bar. Harada whips up a Dragon Uppercut, but the Xbox official tells him the Series S can't handle that many projectiles on screen. Harada isn't exactly shy when it comes to saying what's on his mind, so when he actually did walk into a room with an Xbox official at the Console Game Developers Conference 2026 in South Korea, he took the opportunity to tear into the Series S then and there—worrying that other devs being overly polite might give Microsoft the idea to do it again with Project Helix. "There's something I really want to say while I have the floor," Harada said (translated by Inven Global). "Since a senior Xbox official is actually in attendance here today, I wish hardware like the Xbox Series S wouldn't be released." CD Projekt Red "Burst Out Laughing" When Asked Whether They Were "Upset" About The Series S Xbox The panel, moderated by former Sony president Shuhei Yoshida, also featured Shift Up CTO DongKi Lee, Too Kyo Games CEO Kazutaka Kodaka, CD Projekt Red associate game director Paweł Sasko, and Ludeon Studios CEO Tynan Sylvester. Harada appeared as the CEO of the newly formed VS Studio, and after making it clear he wasn't a fan of the Series S, he turned to his peers and asked Sasko whether he was "upset inside" because of it. Sasko "burst out laughing" before saying, "It constantly throws challenges at us and forces us to optimize our code very cleanly." Harada doubled down, "You just used a very polite and elegant way to say, 'Xbox Series S sucks,' right? Low memory is an issue, but the hardest part is that it's a device so similar to Series X while having awkwardly lower performance. When porting to Switch 2, developers can shift their mindset to 'Switch 2 is a distinct device for Nintendo fans!' But with Xbox, after delivering your absolute best output, it feels like having to do extra work for a slightly weaker child." Director Paweł packaged Series S so gracefully that the Microsoft representative in the audience keeps nodding along. I'm worried they'll feel reassured and release a successor like 'Helix S' for the next-gen Xbox as well. He isn't the only dev to run into a brick wall with the Xbox Series S, either. Baldur's Gate 3 was infamously delayed on Xbox because Larian Studios couldn't ensure parity between the two consoles, struggling to get split-screen co-op working on the Series S (though the studio assured it isn't holding back next-gen). Bossa Studios VFX artist Ian Maclure also claimed in 2022 that "MANY developers have been sitting in meetings for the past year desperately trying to get Series S launch requirements dropped," describing it as "an albatross around the neck of production." A sentiment echoed by Digital Foundry's Alexander Battagalia, who reported that several developers find the memory constraints frustrating. But there's another issue with the Series S that's less talked about, which Harada takes issue with. "Furthermore, in markets like the US, there are more Series S users than Series X users, so we can't just cut corners," he explained. "Yet after launch, Series S users direct their complaints at us developers rather than Microsoft, asking 'Why is texture resolution lower only on Series S?'" The Xbox Series S was offered up as the 'budget' next-gen console, so it's understandable that developers like Harada are frustrated when those buying the cheaper alternative get angry over their games looking, well, cheaper. There have been murmurs for years that studios are fed up with having to accommodate two different Xbox consoles, but we don't know enough about how Project Helix will work yet to say whether Microsoft will address those concerns.