Could it be that consumers are putting money where there mouths are and this is just Microsoft desperately trying to increase their margins since their business isn't growing anymore?
I mean the more people move away, the more likely it is Microsoft would milk the ones who can't.
I guess we'll see one or two games do this every 1-2 years, and I think that's actually fine. Baldur's Gate 3 did it but in the end optimising for Series S improved it for everyone. Alan Wake 2 devs said it was hard to fit things into Series S memory but they got there in the end and even delivered a 60 FPS mode. Even Immortals of Avuem got it working at 60 FPS for Series S.
It sucks for the devs for sure and they should leverage it to get some concessions from Microsoft for making them do all the hard work. Maybe a smaller platform fee, or partial funding.
They worked on both their engine and Starfield. I just hope now the next games don't require too much engine work (since it was anyway designed around segmented maps of Oblivion and Fallout 3) and can ship games at a faster cadence.
Imagine having unprocessed food. It's like raw and uncooked and unseasoned and simply unprocessed. Sounds awful to be honest.