Microsoft's decision to release a cheaper, albeit lesser spec'ed next-gen console in the form of the Xbox Series S has proved a great success. It's a great way to play next-generation games without as much initial outlay (if you can get hold of one before the scalpers, of course).

However, while clearly a great entry into this latest wave of consoles, the Xbox Series S is also giving developers sleepless night it seems. It might also cause some to rethink plans when it comes to adding the best new tech features to their Xbox games.

That's down to the fact that, while it is capable of ray tracing and some of the other magical wizardy of the Xbox Series X, the S also has a heavily truncated graphics processor. It has a GPU capable of 4 TFLOPs of power in comparison to the 12 TFLOPs in the Series X. And this makes it harder for development teams to ensure their games run at their best - at least, that's the opinion of 4A Games' CTO, Oleksandr Shyshkovtsov.

"The RAM is not an issue for us (currently), but GPU performance presents challenges for future titles," he said during an interview with Wccfech. "Our current renderer is designed for high spatial and temporal resolution (4K60). It is stochastic by nature. Dropping any of those would require us to do more expensive calculations dropping performance even further. We have a compromise solution right now, but I am not satisfied with it yet."

The studio is currently working on the next-gen ugrade for Metro Exodus, which will be released in the coming months - likely spring.

That promised 60fps and ray tracing, even for Xbox Series S. However, it seems the developer's biggest worries are getting future Metro titles on Series S up to scratch.

Still, considering how well many games already run on the console and the ability of 4A Games, we're sure it'll all work out well.