Xbox Series X has 12 teraflops GPU, cross-buy games confirmed

Microsoft has confirmed several key Xbox Series X features and announced a cross-buy scheme for games available on multiple Xbox generations.

In a blog post on Monday, Xbox boss Phil Spencer detailed a number of Xbox Series X features first announced when the console was revealed at The Game Awards in December 2019.

These include Xbox Series X targeting 12 teraflops of computing power, a patented form of variable rate shading, and hardware-accelerated DirectX ray tracing.

“Xbox Series X is our most powerful console ever powered by our custom designed processor leveraging AMD’s latest Zen 2 and RDNA 2 architectures,” Spencer wrote.

“Delivering four times the processing power of an Xbox One and enabling developers to leverage 12 TFLOPS of GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) performance – twice that of an Xbox One X and more than eight times the original Xbox One.”

Promising “immersion in an instant,” he said the console’s SSD means “game worlds are larger, more dynamic and load in a flash and fast travel is just that – fast”.

A new quick resume feature lets you jump back into “multiple games from a suspended state almost instantly”, while dynamic latency input promises to deliver more precise and responsive controls.

“With support for up to 120 fps, Xbox Series X allows developers to exceed standard 60 fps output in favor of heightened realism or fast-paced action,” Spencer said.

He also confirmed a cross-buy scheme for new games released across multiple Xbox generations, which will be powered by a technology called Smart Delivery.

“This technology empowers you to buy a game once and know that – whether you are playing it on Xbox One or Xbox Series X – you are getting the right version of that game on whatever Xbox you’re playing on,” he said.

“We’re making the commitment to use Smart Delivery on all our exclusive Xbox Game Studios titles, including Halo Infinite, ensuring you only have to purchase a title once in order to play the best available version for whichever Xbox console they choose to play on.

“This technology is available for all developers and publishers, and they can choose to use it for titles that will be released on Xbox One first and come to the Xbox Series X later.”

Update: CD Projekt is one of the first third parties to confirm its support for Smart Delivery, saying: “Owners of #Cyberpunk2077 for Xbox One will receive the Xbox Series X upgrade for free when available.”

Original story continues: Spencer also said Xbox Game Pass will continue to offer first part games like Halo Infinite at launch, and reiterated that Xbox Series X will be backwards compatible with existing Xbox One accessories and games, including backward-compatible Xbox 360 and original Xbox titles, which will “look and play better than ever before”.

Spencer said earlier this month that the platform will continue to be “bold” and “different” with its Xbox Series X reveals between now and the console’s launch during the 2020 holiday season.

He wrote in Monday’s blog post: “We’ve been using Xbox Series X in our internal Takehome program and are energized by the feedback we’ve been receiving. At Xbox we value being open and transparent with you, and I’m proud to be able to share details about some of the technologies we are enabling for the next generation, and look forward to boldly sharing more as we head towards E3.”

Xbox also recently confirmed plans to attend E3, following the news that rival PlayStation won’t be at June’s industry showcase.

Sony is also scheduled to launch PlayStation 5 during the 2020 holiday season. It launched the PlayStation 5 section of its official website in early February, but said it’s “not quite ready to fully unveil” the next generation of PlayStation.