Ghostwire: Tokyo’s Performance on Xbox Series X|S Lags Behind PS5

They Had a Whole Year, That Too Under Microsoft's Hood!

Ghostwire: Tokyo, the highly anticipated action-adventure game from Tango Gameworks was finally released on Xbox Series X|S last week. However, it has been reported to perform “quantifiably worse” on Xbox platforms compared to the PlayStation 5 version, according to a recent report by Digital Foundry.

Speaking on Digital Foundry’s DF Direct podcast, gaming analyst Oliver Mackenzie shared his initial findings on Ghostwire: Tokyo’s performance on Xbox consoles. He mentioned that the ray-traced reflections are of lower quality compared to the PlayStation 5 version, and there are shadow alignment bugs with the ray-traced shadows. 

Additionally, the game’s resolutions are similar for the most part, but the quality mode on Xbox has a moderately lower resolution than the PS5 version. Mackenzie also noted that the performance on Xbox is typically 5-10% lower than the PlayStation 5 version when comparing the same scenes.

In particular, Mackenzie highlighted the performance of Ghostwire: Tokyo on Xbox Series S, Microsoft’s budget-friendly console. He mentioned that there are two graphics modes on Series S – Performance and Quality – but neither of them has ray tracing. Furthermore, the game’s Performance mode on Series S reportedly runs at less than 60 frames per second, which may impact the overall gameplay experience.

Xbox Series S with the Xbox Wireless Controller | Getty Images via WIRED

Mackenzie acknowledged that the PlayStation 5 version of Ghostwire: Tokyo, which was released in March 2022, also had its own performance issues. However, he expressed disappointment that the issues observed by Digital Foundry last year on PlayStation 5 seem to have worsened in the Xbox version, despite expectations of improvements after Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda and Tango Gameworks.

Ghostwire: Tokyo was initially released as a PlayStation 5 console exclusive in 2022, as part of Bethesda’s agreement with Sony prior to Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda and Tango Gameworks. However, the game recently arrived on Xbox consoles and Game Pass, accompanied by a major update called Spider’s Thread.

As of now, Digital Foundry has not released a full analysis video but the performance issues reported by Digital Foundry have raised concerns among the gaming community. Tango Gameworks and Microsoft may need to address these issues and release patches or updates to improve the performance of the game on Xbox consoles, especially on Xbox Series S, to ensure an optimal gaming experience for players.

What are your thoughts about Ghostwire: Tokyo’s performance on Xbox Series X|S? Let us know in the comments section below.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Abdullah Amin


Abdullah is passionate about staying up-to-date on the latest trends and developments in the gaming industry. With a strong background in writing and research, he is able to provide in-depth analysis and informative articles for a wide range of gaming audiences.