Spencer Defends Games With Stylized Graphics, Discusses Backward Compatibility & Xbox Upload Studio

Another thing Spencer talked about was the fact that several Xbox games of late have gone for a more stylized look over photorealism- such as Super Lucky's Tale, and the upcoming Sea of Thieves.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

There is nothing wrong with stylized graphics. Last Gen there was a period were devs seemed obsessed with making games brown and grey. I would much rather games have differing artysles from each other.

[Jinger]

Amen

[rainslacker]

It is sad when art style has to be defended. Stylized games can take just as much power to render as realistic looking games. One may not care for it much, but it's really dumb to assume a game is good or bad based on the art style.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Nothing wrong with that all

[Game-o-holic]

Its crazy that anyone has to defend "Stylized Graphics" in 2018. Video games are a form of art whether people believe it or not, and it gives them an identity in a sea of games shooting for real-world presentation.

[Alucard_420]

idk why people are defending lol it is so funny, when ni no kuni came out that game was hand drawn and praised for it's style. From one year to another things flip flop so much.

[rainslacker]

It's unlikely to be the same people. The people that NNK appealed to are probably more apt to appreciating that kind of art style. In other words, anime fans.

Last gen, there seemed to be a lot of push back on Otaku style games, and Japanese game design principals in general. But those that like them never complained when they were available. The people that complained were those that thought they were too good for such things, and unwilling to give anything a chance.

[_LarZen_]

I prefere games with a nice art style then most games that try to look as real as possible. Just look at PUBG. It looks like crap. It runs like crap. And then you have Fortnite that looks awesome. And runs great.

[starsi360]

Call me weird (please don’t) but I really like the PUBG graphic style. Yes it’s rough round the edges but I love the realism. On the X1X I love coming over a big hill to look down over a valley with a farm/sunset etc, just looks grand in scale

[mkis007]

Well duh. Dishonered and Borderlands have some of the best sytlized gfx around. The problem is making sure they serve some purpose ie creating atmosphere.

[Enjoigamin]

need me a new borderlands thats for sure.

[Slurms]

Stylised graphics can scale down to look and run well on a low-specced machine, and still stand up on powerful machines of today and tomorrow.

Sea of Thieves looks really nice on a base Xbox One, and it will still look nice on a 2080Ti. That's harder to achieve with realistic graphics.

[Poobz]

Not sure about the game as yet. but from what I've played of SoT, I can only but say those graphics are stunning.

[Jinger]

When you're sailing back to an outpost with your crew and the sun starting to set and the red/pink light is grazing the ocean... it does truly look stunning.

That water is just gorgeous.

[Enjoigamin]

even looks good when your drunk :D

[Blu3_Berry]

It's actually a bit odd that Spencer feels the need to defend games with stylized graphics.

[Fishy Fingers]

Read more than the headline. There’s no ‘defence’ he simple replied to a question a Twitter about the lack of ‘mature’ looking games.

[slate91]

I'm sure if SoT went with a more "realistic" approach to their art style, the same people would be crying that MS is forcing Rare to change their style and would probably use that as another excuse to write this game off.

[corroios]

Stylized Graphics and cartony are great for weak machines. That dont have the power create a real word.

[Brazz]

No problems whit stylized, but games like crack, luck, sot, sod are just a big let down ( on graphics) compared to what you will find on ps. Damn, when you compare 2017 exclusives you will see that sony games are much better looking, xbox exclusives just look bad when they are compared.

[Einhander1971]

Wind Waker with its stylized visuals are timeless and beautiful, that's the argument between stylized and realism.

[DigitalRaptor]

Phil really needs to push for some more mature looking games.

Everything I look to, looks stylised, which definitely isn't a bad thing - but in every game? Gets old. even Forza has those cartoony looking shaders present in its cars and environments.

[TheOttomatic91]

I wonder if he’s just as passionate about GaaS

[Tross]

Phil Spencer of all people is defending stylized graphics? I agree, but where was this defense when it seemed everyone only cared about gritty FPS with attempted realism art styles? Oh, right, at MS money talks and now that MS knows there's a market for games with stylized graphics (welcome to...pretty much always MS), Phil Spencer will defend them. Well, I guess better late than never.