The Witcher 3 Dev: "Fairly Close" To Maxing PS4 and XBox One; PC Gamers Should Save for an Upgrade

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is one of the most anticipated RPG of the foreseeable future both on PC and next generation consoles, and CD Projekt RED's Co-Founder Marcin Iwinski is pretty confident in the ability of his studio to deliver fantastic graphics getting close to using up the capability of the PS4 and Xbox One and pushing your PC to its limits.

[_QQ_]

Near maxing the new consoles already?!? well i guess that familiar PC architecture doesn't take much to figure out.

[Snookies12]

I see where you're coming from, and yes they do know that architecture so it will be easier to utilize it to its fullest in no time. However, as The_Infected stated, maxing out a console is not the same as getting everything out of it. Over time devs will learn tricks and nuances that will help them make much better looking games in the next several years. This happens with every new set of consoles. Give it time, and in the coming years we'll see games that will probably blow anything we've seen so far out of the water.

It's the way the deveopers make the games, not the hardware they have to work with.
Kinda like how all humans are pretty much the same structurally, but you see athletes in the Olympics doing things most normal people could never even attempt. It's all a matter of how you work with what's given to you. Whether it's hardware, the human body, or anything else. :]

[stuna1]

Yet someone disagrees! You're absolutely right. If people actually believe a 3rd party developer is about to max out either machine quicker than the console maker 1st party developers, you have got to give me some of the stuff you're smoking! It's not going to happen.

Even Cerny himself said that the PS4 has been built upon layered technology, meaning although the development tools make it easy to code and developer for, it's hard to master every nuance of the machine.

A accurate discription in my opinion would be how a onion looks when it's peeled and then cut, you'll see how it's layered all the way to the core.

[teflontactics]

Inefficient code will max out specs much easier than efficient, streamlined code. I've got no worries regarding the fact that it's only going to get better, no matter what the developers claim at this point.

[nerdeu]

You read my mind and you spoke my mind. I only wish more people could realize this fact is a natural process of game development. Just look at the difference between Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. HUGE difference because ND learned to make their tools more efficient.

Same story will probably follow with this generation but only with the difference that developers might hit the bar a little faster. Let's say in 5 years instead of 7. But that doesn't concern me. Greatness (still) awaits! :D

[Maxor]

All the efficient coding in the world is not going over come the realities of the hardware. The PS4 is a system with an AMD 7870 inside it, nothing going to change that.

And maxing out a 7870 is frankly, easy.

[wsoutlaw87]

ya you could write code that maxes out a system after the first day, but what does that prove. Its not like there are devs just leaving out processing power because they cant manage to make a game to utilize it. This is just pr bs yet every article and people act like omg this gen is done.

[Anonagrog]

@Maxor,

"All the efficient coding in the world is not going over come the realities of the hardware."

I don't get the point you're trying to make here!

It isn't about over-coming what the hardware is capable of! That doesn't even make sense!? It's about realizing the capabilities of the h/w, having a clear profile of performance limitations, and trying to find optimal methods for utilizing it.

"And maxing out a 7870 is frankly, easy."

My definition of "maxing out" is seemingly different to your one.

Y'see, my idea of it involves an awareness of how data is transformed and massaged with the flow of a piece of high performance software. Some nice buzzwords for you would be "cache miss", "pipeline stall/flush", "lockless programming", "branch misprediction", "data-oriented design", "data/instruction prefetching", "principal of locality", etc., amongst plenty of other little gems; easy to list on their own, but something else entirely when designing high performance software and taking consideration of them all.

These have just been hardware-based things. What about logical optimizations, and what of API/Kernel costs? LoD-dependant processing? Mathematical approximations? We can even make processing simplifications to take advantage of human factors.

So, yeah, "maxing out a 7870 is, frankly, easy"?... hmmm, well, perhaps not! :P

[dedicatedtogamers]

Well, we do hear this "maxing out" rhetoric all the time every console generation, especially from PC devs. With consoles, there's a world of difference between "maxing out" and "optimizing".

Maxing out isn't too hard to do. It's tweaking the code and optimizing that brings you improvement.

Still, I'm glad to see CdProjekt using as much of the next-gen console power as possible.

[MysticStrummer]

If they're maxing out both consoles, the two versions won't be exactly the same. I'll just leave it at that.

[DeadlyFire]

Indeed. I believe they are just using raw code on the new consoles and still running the game unoptomized to a sense on the consoles. Games are likely to shift dramatically in another year or so with power. Especially with Laser scanned environments coming into game development 2015 and on forward. Now if they mix cinema effects into development with laser scanned environments. We could see some amazing environments.

There is also the potential question of if Sony/Microsoft locked out some GPU power to deploy later on in the cycle. Although I don't suspect that is the case.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

@Lopez Devs claimed they were maxing out consoles early last gen and games clearly continued to get better and better.

[starchild]

True, but games continue to get better on all platforms due to new graphical techniques and more efficient techniques. That goes for the PC as well as consoles. It's not due to some magical untapped console power the way some people imagine.

[cannon8800]

A game will only go as far as what the engine allows it to go. New technologies only make it better and better. I'm not worried about this one bit.

[ooquis]

If it happens PS4/XBONE versions are identical then in my eyes their credibility is out the window. Like with the news of Tomb raider frame rates. They should be careful not to dig a hole for themselves.

[OpieWinston]

Dude it's CD PRojekt Red....If the ports are identical it's because Direct X11.2 and Open GL do have a massive gap that will fill that Spec void.
CD Projekt Red is a hell of a lot more credible then most of these other devs...including first party studios.
You fanboys need to wake the fuck up and realize that you have NO FUCKING IDEA HOW THIS SHIT WORKS...SO STFU.

[CertifiedGamer]

If anyone knows anything about games and how development work then they would know that every game currently released on pc running on max the majority of time is running on 4 gb of ram. I think witcher 3 must be running at 4.5 or 5 in order to accomidate what console manufactures reserve for the OS allow them to use but by the end of this gen, I hope we will if lucky get to 6.5 gb of ram of the 8 gb of ram that systems the current gen has.

[wsoutlaw87]

people said the same thing every year last gen and the next year there was something better. It really doesn't mean anything at all.

[andrewsqual]

Says an experienced developer with Playstation consoles lol. Exactly.

[OpieWinston]

Says an experience developer...
Do you even own a PC? Have you ever played The Witcher franchise at all?
These guys are like the gaming dev gods. All this talk about "Indies are the future" from Mark Cerney and he didn't go to CD Projekt Red for approval...that says something.

They're like the only indie devs that produce a pure quality innovative AAA game without Publisher support.

They're experienced with Direct X...Not Open GL because Open GL is Sonys attempt at creating a graphics SDK that is as good as Direct X.

[C-H-E-F]

No, I don't believe it, Midway said the same thing about that game Stranglehold on the ps3 and look at the last of us??? HUGE GRAPHICAL DIFFERENCE, there will be software new engines etc. to come out to further utilize the consoles. They are close to maxing out their engine on the consoles i'll agree with that, maxing out the consoles this early , to say so is ridiculous especially when we all know you are utilizing the code for peak performance.

[bryam1982]

thats why i.dont like pc gaming every game that comes out you.need to upgrade unless you have a 2,000$ badass machine

[listenkids]

And we heard the same claims early into last gen, yet we produced games which trumped them 10 fold. Shit happens over time.

[ShutUpDonny]

I know nothing about programming, but I know that the engines, as they develop, get more efficient. It takes less power to render textures, physics, A.I. and stuff like that, so you can use the processing power on something else something else. They maxed-out the consoles with there current tools.

[Muffins1223]

Honestly its irrelevant,every game "maxes out" its power, it just depends on the amount of optimization they do for it,that is what makes the games on the system look better each and every year.I guarantee you we will see better looking games on xbox one in the future than this,same goes for wiiu and ps4.

[AceBlazer13]

How bout we see some more games to compare before making claims like this.

[SilentNegotiator]

Because this comes from PR quotes and their prerogative is to make their game sound/look good.

[spicelicka]

Yea how many times have we heard this from every other developer last gen, for the past 5 years we've been hearing it lol. Yet the graphics keep getting better and better.

[NobleTeam360]

This is what devs said all last gen and we didn't see PS3 or 360 get maxed out until really late in their life cycles.

[blackmanone]

Far longer than just last gen I'm afraid. It is like every generation the devs forget they can optimize code. It is really nothing more then a sound bite and a way for them to get a free interview and promotion.

Still, Meh, anything the wither guys can do for more exposure, I am for it.

[Vegamyster]

X86 is much easier and quicker to learn then PowerPc/Cell architecture, mind you X86 isn't as good for gaming which is the trade off. Obviously the Xone/PS4 will improve but not to the same degree as last gen.

[danny818]

Devs will say anything to make sure theyre game sells. They wint max out the new consoles yet forsure

[Ripsta7th]

They always say that!! Lol then a year later it gets maxed again by a different Dev

[beatled]

they were "maxed" day one

bf4 is only 1280x720 on xbox1 and 1600x900 on ps4 and both console versions are covered in artifacts and jaggies

its 2560x1600 on my pc and runs great and is not covered in jaggies

ps4/xbox1 maxed day 1

will devs be able to create prettier games that what we have seen so far, yes!

will we see resolutions tank and performance get crappier still, yes!

ps3 and xbox 360 were maxed in the third year due to their foreign and purposely convoluted architectures,

The current gen machines are already near maxed because the ps4 and xbox1 are EXACTLY like pc's now....takes nothing to max them

[Rhaigun]

You seem to ignore the fact that new drivers and engines with a smaller footprint always come to fruition. Just a week ago, we got word that Havok has vastly improved and halved it's resource requirements for its newest iteration. But, no. That would disprove your ridiculous notion that there is no room for improvement.

During the seventh year of developing for the PS3, there were no secrets anymore. Everyone knew how the hardware worked at that point. Yet, The Last of Us looked better than any other game on the system. Why? Better coding and resource management created specifically for the platform it was released on.

[s45gr32]

Not just that but it took game developers to understand the architecture of the PS3. Now is all AMD based plus it has x86 architecture. So there's no learning of new code, architecture, even hardware except optimization. Meaning better looking games less videogame content, we're are the map editors, alternate paths, secret passages or doors. A game like "The Forest" can only be done on PC due to its horsepower and upgradeability. Meaning an open survival horror game from hunting food, drinking water, building houses, and either killing or running away from Cannibals. Were is Planetside 2 on PC schedule for PS4 but never coming like Outlast.

[epoxe]

"new drivers and engines with a smaller footprint always come to fruition."

HAHAHAHAHAAH ROFLMAO. Proof please?

[Rhaigun]

Proof? It happens every time a dev makes a new game with an existing engine. Just ask DICE about the changes Bioware made to Frostbite. Compare Mass Effect to Mass Effect 3. Same engine,better optimized. Even on my PC there's a noticeable difference. I didn't change to a better card. The code just got better. Hell, the game even runs smoother.

So, don't sit there and act like things can't get better with time. It happens every gen.

[HighResHero]

I agree with some of your comment, but they aren't EXACTLY like PCs.

[windblowsagain]

Stop talking rubbish.

How does BF4 on PS4 have artifacts,lol. Barely any difference from PC version. I play the PC version maxed all the time.

XB1 has jaggies due to 720p, and oversharping filter makes matters worse.

As great a game BF4 is, the game is covered in bugs, that should have been caught in alpha. Has awful clipping issues. Has only just had a memory leak that was taking some ppl's 16gb ram.

PC is lazy programming. If you don't know that. Then please don't talk about it. Brute force is used.

Games on PC should look x5 times better. But they cater for too large an installed base with various hardware. It does not help matters.

[kewlkat007]

Looking at PC games the last 2 years and seeing what they can do now..

what kind of expectation do console only owners really expect with these new consoles.?

Even when you look at year 5 into the shelf life of consoles, can you imagine where the PC will be visually?

[s45gr32]

At 4k resolution and virtual reality heavily improved only on PC. Consoles barely getting into native 1080p 60 frames per second not upscaled and planning on bringing VR.

[GamingTruth]

this is the time when youll see more pc nerds than every claiming pc superiority

[Einhert]

always found the term "PC Nerd" hilarious especially when looking at someone with an anime avatar posting on a gaming site.

But if you acknowledge superiority you look insecure and think that way, good luck with your gaming endeavours "console nerd".

[Donnywho]

Eyes are too big for the invisible stomach while wearing sunglasses in the dark with horse blinders on.

[KillrateOmega]

Everyone should look a certain analogy from a developer about filling a glass full of rocks and water. It's pretty awesome.

[urwifeminder]

Looking forward to next gen engines on pc kind of sick of the look of BF4 already seems dated looking lol these devs usually use NVidia anyone know if it will be AMD optimised this time.

[iliimaster]

when i hear that from naughty dog or sony santa monica studios ill believe it

[pandehz]

When I see them making an open world world game then I'll believe you.

[LAWSON72]

I will probably be getting a 1440p monitor and GTX 780ti in the coming months so I will be ready.

[--bienio--]

I got the same I start all ready to save money for my new card😃

[Double_O_Revan]

Many developers make this claim at the beginning of a console cycle, and even many times during. It's just too boast about their game. There's no way they've even begun to tap into the new consoles potential.

Maybe they've maxed out their understanding of the consoles, but not the consoles themselves.

[Yep]

All the more reason why I always go Nintendo/PC.

[infectedaztec]

Did you enjoy playing TLOU or Halo last gen?

[Yep]

No, I'm okay with missing out on one or two games in exchange for tons of others.

[WitWolfy]

Here we go again!!!

2 months from now...

Dev 1: "We MAXED the out the consoles!!!"

3 months after that with even better graphics..

Dev 2: "We reached the pinnacle of the consoles potential"

ECT ECT ECT...

I must've seen this claim every other month last gen.

[infectedaztec]

Have you heard of optimization?

[WitWolfy]

Dont you understand what I'm saying. All they're doing is hyping their product. Just like all those devs did last gen.

[plaZeHD]

This is true.

[s45gr32]

Optimization will make console games prettier but due to having the same architecture as a PC and is AMD based console gamers will not see what they saw on previous console generation.....

[Mikeyy]

They say this every generation... yet year after year the games look better and better, unless you are Infinity Ward, then your game looks like ass.

[tee_bag242]

The consoles are already running out of steam. The hardware in this gen of consoles is vastly underpowered compared with last gen in relation to PC. Last gen consoles had cutting edge hardware. This gen is a joke.

[wsoutlaw87]

lol running out of steam? how many games have been released so far? But apparently you already see a slow down in consoles.. just stop. Last gen had cutting edge hardware? If you mean a bluray player then i guess so. Or did you want the system to be as complicated as the Cell in the ps3 just because it sounds cool, because that didnt play out well for, you know, games. You know this gen is more powerful than last gen right?

[tee_bag242]

Yes you read right. Running out of steam. Both consoles can't seem to run 1080p let alone 60fps - that's not exactly power to spare is it- did you notice BF4 couldn't manage this on either of the new consoles..and every other game. 1080p 60fps was meant to be the holy grail for this generation of consoles since last gen couldn't do it, yet people like you are already making excuses for them failing to live up to market expectations.
Last gen 360 and PS3 had top tier CPU/GPU combinations even when compared with a monster gaming PC.. This gens hardware is 2 year old tech, and it's showing.
Stop being in denial about it. Its a fact we have to live with.

[wsoutlaw87]

saying theyre running out of steam when they just started and games are still in their first development, not only doesnt make sense, it is stupid. There are plenty of games on ps4 that run 1080 at 60fps and you seem to think that means something. lol im not sure why you are telling me to stop being in denial, you should stop being a drama queen. Trolling is really just sad and theres no need to waist your time with that bs. The launch systems were overstated last gen with a lot of bottlenecks. plus pc hardware is in a different state than it was then. The next gen systems might not be better than crazy expensive gaming pcs, but who cares honestly. How many pc gamers have pcs like that. I love how just because someone plays on pc, and there are pcs that can run a game on ultra settings better than on consoles, they think theirs can too. If you dont like consoles than dont play them, no need to go crying nonsense about them.

[Jack_Reacher]

Really does anyone believe this bullshit again. For those that do I feel so sorry for you.

[worldwidegaming]

Everyone knows the Consoles would get maxed out day one.
(Gotta see how fast it goes!)
The tweaks to the consoles happen at after party!
Its great the PC version will not get screwed over and they will push the game to its limits!

[infectedaztec]

Funny that PC gamers get so smug with a comment like this. What I read was that "PC gamers need to buy extra parts to play this game". They already said in a previous interview that they're won't be much of a graphical difference between consoles and PC

[Npugz7]

I doubt that! They just don't know how to fully utilize the new machines yet!

[BOLO]

Exciting times in the gaming world...One can only wonder where we are in 5 or 6 years. Came a loooong way from the Super Nintendo days. Wow.

[WickedLester]

Too much emphasis from the PC crowd on tech. Much more important than tech is game design. This is a giant expansive open world here! I'm not one bit surprised that these developers think they are already maxing out the systems. Yet I guarantee you when The Witcher 4 comes out, they will find yet even more ways to squeeze more performance out of them! Also, PC gamers just gloss over the fact that they are also telling the PC crowd "time to upgrade." So it's not just consoles they feel they're maxing out but current PC's as well.

Also, as limited as the hardware may seem to PC enthusiasts, they tend to overlook factors such as OS overhead, closed architecture means the ability to code more efficiently and get the most out of the hardware. 720p or 1080p resolutions aren't going to put the strain on the hardware the way PC games do running at higher resolutions, etc.

[N4g_null]

Steam os has hardly any over head.. win 8 runs at 250 megs.. less than the ps4 or wiiu.

My workstation from 3 years ago won't be maxed out by ps4 ports ever...

Will games look better sure!

[LOLzy]

Wait, didn't Microsoft and Sony say they have extra power locked away for later?

[creepjack]

Umm, these consoles are already "maxed out", unless someone can find me some evidence that they can run every game at maximum graphical settings at a minimum of 60 fps. Oh yeah, they cant, either of them.
These consoles are mid range pcs, nothing more.

[PersonMan]

Don't fall for this guys!

Every big game last gen was "maxing" out the systems. Optimizing makes all the difference.

You can max out the PS4 by writing a really sloppy pong game. It doesn't mean that there isn't room for further optimizations.

[EXVirtual]

Lol, this comment section is all over the place.
Yes, maxing out a console is easy. It's optimization that makes the games better, in terms of performance at least.
I'm pretty sure CDPR knows this. They aren't bad devs. They know how a console gen goes. They're just hyping up their product.
Of course, the X86 architecture is much easier to optimize for than something like the CELL, so consoles won't be seeing a jump in graphics as high as the PS3 and 360 did. Of course, that's why I suspect that this gen will only last 5-6 years.

[zippycup]

my thing is they spend all there time making games preaty and forget about great gameplay and story id rather play a 720 30 frame game whit a great story and gameplay

honestly i have been playing minecraft on ps3 since it came out and i can honestly say i have had more fun playing that than most of the AAA titles out there

[linkenski]

I know this isn't news but it's a shame that so early in the new generation we're already seeing games that are maxed out on PC but only "nearly maxed out" on consoles. Crysis was the game to really break the cycle last-gen but it came out after the generation had been going on for 2 years.

I want console gaming to be superior other than being plug-n-play.

[OpieWinston]

50 Hours of gameplay on Main story ALONE
100-120 hours of gameplay including All side quests

This game is going to be HUGE
Multi-region...they've been heavily invested in this game.

So it's not a surprise that if ANYONE is going to max out The next gen consoles...it'll be CD Projekt Red.

All these retards who think that they'll be as big of a gap from last gen to this one need to stop kidding themselves. When it comes to developers like these guys...they will DESTROY all First Party studios. Sure first party are more focused because they have one platform to worry about and to manage the best they can.

But if you put Naughty Dog/Sucker Punch/Santa Monica/Quantic Dreams/Remedy/343/Bungie/Lionh ead/Etc...Up against CD Projekt Red? CD wins...hands down. They're a lot more experienced and have a more talented team.

I realize I'm going to get dislikes because people have only owned a console and can't accept that there are better devs out there.