But how do games actually perform across systems? More to the point, if a game supports Smart Delivery, how will it perform on the Xbox One? After all, the Xbox Series S may provide the necessary results at a very competitive price.

Thanks to game developer Tomas Sala, we have some interesting data: the creators of Falconeer published on Twitter how their game runs on the Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and the current generation Xbox One S

On the other hand, the game is still in the development phase.

The Xbox Series S, on the other hand, can enjoy 1800p gameplay at 60 fps, or 120 fps if you are willing to drop to 1080p. Both platforms feature SSD storage, with load times of only 13 seconds. [However, the Xbox One S offers 60 fps gameplay at 1080p, but load times more than triple to 42 seconds.

Sala elaborates a bit more on the Unity blog. While the Series X version runs like a high-end PC with "all the anti-aliasing" and "all the fancy effects," he notes that both Series S and X offer "very similar experiences."

Of course, this is just one game, but it is promising to see good overall performance; Sala is very complimentary of both next-generation Xboxes, stating that "there is really no trade-off between graphics and performance in this generation."

"One of the big surprises for me is how powerful the Series S is. It's a powerful piece of next-generation hardware."

Elsewhere, Sala suggests that the power of next-generation consoles could change the way people develop games. Developers may be forced to use tricks to create the illusion of a living environment. He told Xbox Wire, "In most video games, objects stop being alive after a certain distance from the player and cease to exist in the simulation if they are not on screen, or a simplified simulation takes over."

"If you want a more complex simulation, you have to spend a lot of time optimizing the simulation. I think that's what the new generation offers: more complex enemies, ecosystems full of creatures and enemies with more interesting behaviors. With open-world games, we can stop using smoke and mirrors to create illusions for the player and focus on building a more simulated world.

To begin with, I don't think the next generation of consoles will be able to harness the full power of the next generation of consoles--especially since cross-platform games and remakes make up a large portion of the launch list. But the promised performance of The Falconeer is a fascinating preview of what's to come in the next five years.