Sony's Jim Ryan says "reduced spec" hardware like Series S hasn't had "good results"

Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan has expressed his views on Xbox’s budget-focused Xbox Series S console. 

In an article by the Japanese website AV Watch, which was translated by VGC, Ryan revealed that Sony looked into the possibility of creating their own Series S style console but was turned away from the idea saying that they “considered that option and seen other executives who have attempted this discover how problematic it is.”

Jim Ryan explained that the company put a lot of research into creating a cheaper version of their next-gen PS5 but said that consoles that are “low priced, [at a] reduced spec” have historically “not had great results in the past.”

Ryan explained that Sony believes that users want a system that appears more future proof and that will fully support 4K displays and 4K output.

“Based on our research, it’s clear that people who buy a game console want to continue using it for four, five, six or even seven years,” Ryan said. “They want to believe they have bought something that is future-proofed and not going to be outdated in two-to-three years.

“They want to have faith that if they end up buying a new TV that their current console will be able to support that new 4K TV they are considering on buying.”

In a spec-to-spec comparison between Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, the budget next-gen machine doesn’t have many detractions. With the console targeting 1080p-1440p resolutions instead of Series X’s 4K, it has less GPU power and a smaller pool of GDDR6 memory. However, CPU remains almost identical.

Sony’s Jim Ryan has also come out to explain his thoughts on Xbox’s Game Pass subscription service, a platform that Ryan believes doesn’t make sense for AAA games.