The Division 2's Next-gen Upgrade is Impressive - But Something's Up With PS5

On the face of it, The Division 2's upgrade for next generation consoles should be fairly simple to describe, with wholly predictable results. The end result should be a capped 30fps experience now running at 60 frames per second - or close to it - with little or nothing else changed in the process. That's effectively what you're getting on Xbox Series X, but something is definitely amiss with the PS5 build, which is missing important graphics effects.

[Christopher]

Why they disabled so much on PS5 is confusing. Did they just rush this out the door or something?

[septemberindecember]

I think that what we have been seeing with the disparity on both consoles is the emphasis of one platform over another instead of actual power differences. For example, Controls stuttering issue. As SDK's improve and devs get more comfortable with the hardware we should see more consistency with the consoles in what they are actually good at. Also, projects won't be as rushed to cash in on the next gen craze.

[Christopher]

Yeah, but this one doesn't make sense since they disabled stuff that is on PS4 Pro. I don't think this is so much disparity but little work to optimize. Which also doesn't make sense since PS4/PS5 is where Ubisoft makes the majority of their money.

[septemberindecember]

@Christopher

I'm pretty sure the Division 2 originally had a marketing deal with Xbox. Maybe that's why they prioritized that console.

[Eonjay]

We already know PS4 games run fine on PS5 so what they did here was turn off stuff from the Pro version. People talk about prioritizing this vs that but this actually required more work to turn this off on PS5 then to just run the Pro version.

And marketing deals should not result in making something worse then it would have been if you never touched it.

[lukasmain]

They are aware of the issues and are working to fix them...

https://forums.ubisoft.com/...

[lukasmain]

PS5 is more than capable of having all these effects on a last gen game. It's got to be just bugs in the BC mode for this game. I'm sure Ubisoft will fix it. Pretty shocking they released the patch at all on PS5. Should have waited till they got it right. I'm sure people will shoot some tweets at them and we might get an answer on twitter sooner rather than later.

[DaGR8JIBRALTAR]

They're already looking into it supposedly.

[Profchaos]

They were literally in the PS4 version but don't appear in 5 it's just weird

[gamer7804]

It’s always looked far better on Xbox. Even the pspro had blurry textures while Xbox didn’t. I’m not sure why. Either not powerful enough or what is most likely they didn’t put the time into it for whatever reason. Hopefully Ubi will patch it

[Christopher]

1. Who cares which has looked better, this is about removing CPU-focused elements present in last gen but upgrading GPU-focused elements.
2. The only thing you mention on PS4 Pro was the one item they corrected while removing other things that aren't reliant on GPU processing (seeing as the textures are already processed).
3. Obviously not powerful enough, but the Pro was powerful enough to spend CPU on what was removed. Logic!
4. I'm guessing most would rather non-native 4k with the extras enabled rather than just dumping them, but even then it doesn't make sense since this is technically weaker then the Pro which had a weaker CPU for handling what they removed.

This comes off as a canned "Xbox better" response without understanding the changes or the confusion behind them. But, hey, glad Xbox always looked better?

[gamer7804]

@christopher I’m just saying there was a precedent with this game and how it looked before for whatever reason. They might be spending less time and resources on the ps version. Could be like dirt 5 less time spent with sdk resulting in more bugs Or could be power ohopefully it’s just a bug but we’ll see.

[Eonjay]

If it's based on precedent then would that be established by the Pro.

[gamer7804]

@enojay yes and no. Ubi has been inconsistent with this game is what I was trying to get at.

[FortWaba]

Ubi has always been in bed with Xbox, this is not news.

But not everything has to be a conspiracy. Perhaps their in-house engine doesn't play well with PS5 architecture. Not to parrot what everyone has said here, but it's just lack of optimization, and the Xbox version needs less of it (as it's just a stronger Xbox One, in contrast to PS5 being a distinct machine)

[Christopher]

***Perhaps their in-house engine doesn't play well with PS5 architecture. Not to parrot what everyone has said here, but it's just lack of optimization, and the Xbox version needs less of it ***

Doesn't pay well with PS5, but plays better with PS4 Pro, which uses the same engine the same as xbox one matches series x . Makes sense. /s

[--Onilink--]

Probably rushed, I doubt most of these ports we’ve seen so far actually have too many people working on them, I honestly wouldn’t even be surprised if they barely reach double digits in some of them. So they have to make do with the time they have.

Couple that with probably some mandate from higher up to get a certain version ready first because of marketing deals the game originally had and they probably did Series first and ended up with even less time to work on the PS5 patch before their deadline and just did what they could to get the 60fps and then fix it later (i have no doubt it will get fixed)

I also doubt that too many people from QA get involved in this kind of stuff, they are relatively small projects (doesnt excuse actually releasing this version instead of just delaying it a week or two though)

[RaidenBlack]

Wasn't DF's BC games with next-gen upgrade comparison videos/articles not allowed anymore?
https://n4g.com/news/239551...
https://n4g.com/news/239471...

[Christopher]

It's specific updates just for XSX/PS5. BC would be just running XBO/PS4 versions without consideration for new platform.

This one is weird that they do it with just last gen code, but it's still relevant to just XSX/PS5 and is coded specifically for those platforms.

Our rule applies to games that have received no updates specific to XSX/PS5 and are running last gen code only.

[Profchaos]

Wasn't rushed they took an entire weekend to do it

[RaidenBlack]

Destiny 2 and Jedi Fallen Order recieved next-gen updates respectively, yet the submissions were not accepted.

[Vanfernal]

The missing effects seem like a bug. No reason why they would remove effects that the PS4 Pro can do. Hoping there's a patch soon.

[DerfDerf]

Unless they needed to remove those effects to hit their performance target for PS5

[philm87]

Maybe they optimised the Series X first, and didn't have time to optimise it fully for the PS5 so had to temporarily switch things off. It wouldn't be a permanent thing as the too consoles are too similar in performance. Series X has better raw graphical power, but the components are heavily customised so it's hard to compare. I know the speed of the SSD makes a big difference on the PC version performance with loading environments on the go etc. (which also reduces strain on the CPU/GPU I believe).

[Vanfernal]

Take a look at the Spiderman games running at 60fps with ray tracing. There's no way the PS5 can't manage to pull those effects off. The Series S which is inferior hardware also has the effects. And in the DF video they say that this must be a bug. This is clearly an optimization issue with the backwards compatibility.

[Kornholic]

Watch the damn video. DF state that this is clearly due to a bug.

[Mr_Luke]

Wait... what? :/
They even disabled things that were on the Pro, is that a bug, lazyness or they didn't care at all about the Ps5 version? The resolution too, is that a joke?

[sho0ok360]

In your response below you have given an honest opinion and it's most likely valid.

My concern is when it's the other way around like a bug in dirt 5 happened or valhalla, ps guys kept laughing at Xbox guys. Even though on paper XsX is more powerful.

The xbox guys said the same exact thing you said before, but they were met with laugh and sarcasm.

I just wanted to highlight this point.

[Mr_Luke]

Understood, it's fine with me. I like a good conversation, not a stupid war. But i see that your comment was marked as "Inappropriate", don't look at me ^^'' as i said, i didn't even give the dislike before but i gave you a Like now.

[mastaleep]

The incompetent experts at Ubisoft are aware of the issues on PS5 and are looking into them:
https://forums.ubisoft.com/...

[Whitey2k]

Well its not effects that missing u also have a 14 second load compared to 8 seconds on series x and also the resolution aswell ive expected to be the same resolution but its lower then series x and in some cases go lower then ps4 pro. They shouldn't of patched it on the ps5 if it was this bad

[Darkborn]

Sounds like something Bethesda would do. It always seemed like they would work on the Xbox version of their games alongside the pc version and then after they announced they went gold, they'd pay like 3 devs to port it to PS in a few weeks.

[Orchard]

My bet is they patch the lack of effects (it is clearly a bug) but the weird 1080p-1890p (odd number...) resolution range remains since it's likely optimization related.

[Kekewei]

I just hope they add ds5 adaptive triggesr support.

[Father__Merrin]

Looks like it's rushed out ps5 has less features than ps4pro

[ukjadoon]

Pepperidge farm remembers when everyone here was judging Dirt 5 on Xbox Series X having missing graphical features as proof of it lagging behind the PS5. This is obviously the developer not implementing parity before releasing a feature due to deadlines perhaps. I really enjoy how nicely the PS5 is treated over this. Gives me hope about a loving and understanding gaming community /s

[Limitedtimestruggle]

Ouch, that is one serious messed up patch!

[boing1]

Guys, I've been there. It's very easy to miss something so obvious after years of looking at the same game. Your brain starts filling the blanks. I'm sure it's a bug or human error.

[Imortus_san]

PS5 version was converted to PS3, go show Ubisoft keep up the good work, lmao.

[bestofyou]

Weird on my PS5 the title card on the PS5 UI is blank. The backgroud title screen on the UI is very low quality and blocky. The game plays but it seems ubisoft screwed the pooch here.

[jznrpg]

Sounds like bugs

[Bluemaster77]

What happened to that untouchable SSD speed, despite not being optimized it should have easily beat xss and xsx

[Drithe]

Hear we go again. The industry reverting back to 30 fps because a system cant handle it. Thx Sony.