Talking Point: Does Microsoft Have A ’30FPS’ Problem With Its Xbox Series X|S Output?

With the confirmation that Obsidian’s Avowed is aiming for a 30FPS frame rate target on Xbox Series consoles, we’re starting to see some heated discussion on the topic and whether it’s becoming a bit of an issue for Xbox. Microsoft’s last three major first-party releases (Forza aside) have all launched at 30FPS in Redfall, Starfield and Hellblade 2, and with Avowed being added to that list next February, is this becoming a problem? Should Microsoft be offering more on day one?

We say day one because, well, Redfall and Starfield have since had 60FPS modes added – so there’s clearly the ability there to make this happen post-launch. However, the team just doesn’t seem to be getting such modes ready to go for release, and in some instances players are having to wait almost six months to play their chosen first-party game at 60FPS on a current-gen Xbox.

While we think this trend is a bit of a bummer — a lot of us here at the PX offices choose higher frame rates where possible — we do think the topic is more nuanced than it may appear. You’ve got to think that this is the first wave of games that are being properly built with Xbox Series X and S as the primary consoles – prior first-party launches such as Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5 are Xbox One games under the hood. That means the visuals are being pushed in these more recent titles, and, well, frame rates are suffering as a result.

When comparing to the main competitor, PS5, this is an even more important point. Yes, Sony has done a much better job so far at offering multiple performance modes in its first-party games, but most of those games have originated in the PS4 era – much like the Infinite and FH5 examples we mentioned. Gran Turismo 7 and God of War Ragnarok may offer high frame rate modes but they’re both cross-gen too – while the likes of The Last of Us Part 1 and Part 2 Remastered were older gen games to start with.

Anyway, we’re not making excuses for Xbox here and ultimately, Microsoft still needs to push to offer more performance options for these games on day one. We just think that it’s worth adding a bit of context to the situation before things get too heated – at least these games seem to be getting 60FPS updates and we hope to see that continue if there’s no other way to make it work.

But, we want to know how you feel about this topic. Is this wave of 30FPS Xbox games becoming an issue? Are you okay with it as long as we get 60FPS patches down the line? Go ahead and talk all about it down below.