PS5, Next Xbox Increased Processing Power Won’t Make Our Lives Any Easier, Says Dev

Close to the Sun artistic director talks about bigger games and the more resources they demand.

[sammarshall102]

Here's hoping more shortcuts and more efficient pipelines are created for developers in the future so we get better games and get them quicker

[Eonjay]

As ever you will find that skilled development will trump raw power every time. We have all experienced the case where we enjoyed an older game on weaker hardware t ol it's own sequel on a newer platform.

[paintedgamer1984]

Well said

[ChickeyCantor]

No matter how efficient pipelines gets, When horsepower goes up, quality goes up, production goes up.
These triple A devs are pushed into crunch time cause you want them quicker and bigger too.

[tontontam0]

skilled development on a more powerful console will trump the quality of skilled development on an inferior console.

[ChickeyCantor]

wtf are you even saying tonton?

It's not a matter of skill but scope. You can increase horsepower, but with that horsepower comes an image and "responsibility".

[joab777]

They will be. I don’t understand this article. This is how it has been forever.

One thing that isn’t mentioned is that now, more than ever, there are so many opportunities for smaller devs to get their games out there, whether it be Steam, IOS, Switch and consoles...

And for those big studios like Rockstar, Bethesda and CDPR, we will get games like 2077 and Starfield.

[DarkVoyager]

“PS5, Next Xbox Increased Processing Power Won’t Make Our Lives Any Easier, Says Dev”

Maybe not but at least the games you work hard to make will look better than ever.

[OMGitzThatGuy]

That's the problem. More power = better graphics = higher standards. Lazy ass devs know they aren't going to be able to put out the same shit every year but any real artist will welcome more power as it allows them to further express their artistic desires.

[Cueil]

I think higher frames is the main goal for next systems

[OMGitzThatGuy]

No such thing as a main goal. Doesn't matter how much CPU and GPU they can cram into consoles, there is always going to be the devs who push the hardware as much as possible and will end up with 30fps. Unless a mandate is made for all consoles to have at least 2 modes, graphics or performance, that will never happen. Microsoft's and Nintendo's first party studios are already making 60fps more standard in their games, we just need Sony to join the party.

[Imortus_san]

The real problem is "More power = better graphics = better sound = more imersive worlds = more development time = the price of making games goes higher", there are fewer and fewer campanies making AAA or AA games, that's why indies are on the rise.

[SirCharles]

You sound like a massive tool.

[AizenSosuke]

More efficient engines are an answer as well.

[psuedo]

They should call it neXtBox. That will secure their future. Also every game doesn't have to be photo realistic. Instead of spending resources on graphics just make a good game?

[Foxhound922]

How would that secure their future? Lol

[madjedi]

No game is trying to photo realistic, however you want decent looking graphics regardless of art style, unless you intentional are going retro. You can't just flip a switch from gameplay to graphics at a whim, when many times the gameplay is dependent on the graphics. Define a good game first, because that is a very subjective term whose definition varies from person to person.

[Bobafret]

Nope, they will just cram in more assets like 4k and Ray Tracing to put 10 pounds of crap in a 5 pound bag.

[Godmars290]

But cloud processing will.

[Godmars290]

And again I forget the "/s".

[JesusBuiltmyHotrod]

Of course not..games are taking longer and are bigger then ever...

[Godmars290]

But not better, by example of basic content once offered with early titles being removed and - possibly - sold later.

[paintedgamer1984]

Just give me a bigger jump than from ps360-ps4xb1

[bluebenjamin]

This gen was by far the weakest jump from the previous gen I’ve ever seen since nes to snes

[UltraNova]

A 1200 dollar,13,4 terrflop RTX 2080ti GPU paired with a monster CPU(not to mention ultra fast SSDs and RAM) can barely do 4K 30fps today when Ray Tracing is on...hell as seen from the reviews its the first GPU that can actually run most demanding games on high settings 4K/ 60 fps stable...thats not what I call a next gen jump...

So do we really expect ps5/xb2 to be able to to reach those milestones in around 2020? With what? The low to medium end, already out-dated hardware they'll launch with?

What I'm saying is that we need to lower our expectations or face another disappointment.

[obidanshinobi]

True.
When the 360 came out it was a beast, comparable to a mid - high range gaming PC at the time.
The One and PS4 however were more comparable to a low - mid range gaming PC at the time of release.
The next PS and Xbox need to get back to the mid-high range PC comparison otherwise what's the point?
This will mean Sony and Xbox selling the consoles at a loss but they're going to have to soak up that cost to deliver a powerful and affordable console.
60fps should be the standard, no excuses. And native 4K for all games except some big open world games.
The lack of power in the One and PS4 has most probably driven a large number of potential customers into the PC market. Sony and MS can't let that continue, if MS in particular are so serious about gaming they need to come out swinging with their next console and really challenge the PC gaming market at a more affordable price.
And mouse + keyboard support from the go, MS and Sony should aim to get almost every game released on their platforms, including PC strategy and good small indie games that are best played with a mouse + kb.

[bigmalky]

Still nothing special on PC looking as good as a two year old Horizon Zero Dawn, and now God of War.

PC gaming has declined since the price of GPUs boosted yet again... I refused to upgrade from the 9xx series of Nvidia cards because of it. It's just not worth the extra money for nothing much worth playing that I can play elsewhere at a better price.

This is from a previous fan of PC gaming. There is no master race, because there's nothing to draw people to an overpriced machine with little to boast about with just good looking third party games.

[Firebird360]

I just want full backwards compatibility from ps5 and NeXtboX.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Well I wouldn't think it would necessarily make their lives easier but it should allow them to do more with the hardware instead of being limited like they are now. And by being able to do more, they may have to work less hard to work within the current limitations they face. That said, likely for the first few years we will see crossover titles that will make their lives just as difficult as they are now.

[marioJP87]

More complicated development maybe?

[NextGenCeo]

They ask X86 based game consoles and same guys right now saying Processing Power Won’t Make Our Lives Any Easier! I don`t understand what is the problem actually...

[AuraAbjure]

Please read my comment on the irony of demanding games. It's a sociology problem.

[AuraAbjure]

Does anyone else smell the irony of demanding games? They're games. And demanding things brings stress.

[Mandingo2020]

Don't matter not going to be an early adopter like with the ps4 in December 2013. I'll wait it out this time and play on PC for a while.

[nismo370]

Stupid clickbait article from gamingbolt

[jer1122]

To me Next Gen consoles are two things. Obviously 4K 60fps for any Shooters is standard Next Generation. Where I would really like to see Improvement is in AI and world-building where you can interact with stuff a lot more.

To me that's the more next gen stuff. Similar to how the first Mordor game had the Nemesis system when the PS4 first came out.

I would like to see more ideas better AI better world before we just go crazy with graphics. It's diminishing returns on Graphics you're just going to need so much power to start getting better.

With Shooters though I would definitely say 60fps 4K is going to be the standard.

[Gamist2dot0]

Reads title. It's gotta be Gamingbolt.
Clicks. Yup....

[MrSec84]

Well the developer actually says "More power doesn't necessarily make our lives easier".

So the author basically left out a very important word (NECESSARILY), which totally screws the Dev's point and effectively changed the point the guy was making.

Of course if one part of the system is powerful, like the GPU, but the CPU and memory sucks then you're never going to do anything besides render a potentially pretty image, that runs at a slideshow and has poor AI, as well as physics.

Even if you have a balanced box, with a CPU and RAM that are fast enough to keep the GPU fed, if the OS and API aren't well optimized for gaming performance you're going to have a nightmare trying realize the full potential of the system.

I doubt either Sony or Microsoft will have issues in any of those areas next gen, most likely it will depend on the Dev's vision and how much power that game needs to use.

[battletrax]

I'd like 10 year warranties on next gen consoles. I am on my 3rd PS4 due to failures. If my $150 lg microwave can have a 10 year warranty, so can a $400+ video game console.

[Father__Merrin]

It's not just hardware it depends on game developer how they can work Thier craft into making great looking games.

It's not just about resolution and FPS, eg Thomas was alone in 4k 60fps hasn't got better visuals than god of war in 1080 30fps etc.

I've seen games on my PS4 that appear far ahead of any pc game that I've got. This 8s down to developer craftsmanship

[Artemidorus]

That's fine, hand it over to the talented people who wishes to use what they have.

[Zeref]

I know Xbox does do a lot to make Dev life easier.

[Fist4achin]

Instead, think of it as spare room that you don't necessarily need to fill with clutter. Make a great product and the extra space is there if you need it.

This guy sounds more like a complainer to me.

[bumsick]

Hopefully we will see devs start improving gameplay elements instead of just making games look nicer. Its a bit dull when every fps, 3rd person action game etc plays the same way with the same controls. The industry is definitely bogged down in that respect.

[Fritzwochel]

Yes, the costs and expectations increase per generation. But there is a problem. The leap from PSX to PS2 was huge, and the same goes for PS2 to PS3. But here's where it kind of diminishes. PS3 to PS4 wasn't that huge of a leap and if Cerny & his minions doesn't come up with some innovative magic sauce that feels like a gamechanger I think the PS5 will fail.

[JimmyDM90]

I'd really like to see next gen focus on making physics and fully interactive environments a centerpiece. Basically making these playboxes we're dropped into more deep and varied. Also if we can get rid of perceptible pop-in that would be great.

[frostypants]

Guessed it was FailingBolt before I clicked. Batting 1.000 this year. So obvious.

Why would anyone think it would make their jobs easier?!

[xenz]

I just hope the recent trend between choosing higher framerates and gfx continues so that everyone across the board can be pleased. They are doing it on Pro/X and it's a breath of fresh air