What bugs me is we’ll never actually know if this has impacted development to the point the game might have had things cut across all versions.
What about if a multiplatform game for PS5 and Xbox Series X could do feature A, B and C along with other additional content but the studio realises during development that if they add these things then it would make the Xbox Series S version even more of a challenge to develop for so they just scrap these things completely and move on to make sure it’s in line with Microsofts parity rule.
It stops developers from taking advantage of the best hardware from not only the Xbox Series X but the PS5 aswell.
It would be different if that rule only affected the Series X because at least somewhere out there you’d get the better more “enhanced” version with a cool few extra goodies on PS5 and PC but Microsoft would never allow that so everyone has to suffer.
Xbox Series X and the beefy specs behind it feel nothing more than bragging rights Microsoft got to throw around during the lead up of this gen to get one over Sony because the PS4 had an edge over the Xbox One last gen. It feels like its become a marketing tool to show Microsoft has “the worlds most powerful console” but has never once managed to take advantage of it because of their stupid rule in place.