520°

Why the return of 30fps console games is inevitable

Future games will be more ambitious - and they can't all run at 60fps.

Read Full Story >>
eurogamer.net
XbladeTeddy342d ago

This is certainly going to be a contentious issue. While I love the smoothness of 60 I've still been enjoying games at 40 (which is suprisingly smooth) and recently played and enjoyed Metro: Exodus at 30 on my Steam Deck. I know this sounds like blasphemy to say it but if it's not a competitive shooter not being played at 60+ isn't as bad as it sounds.

Cue the hate lol.

EvertonFC342d ago (Edited 342d ago )

I don't even look if a game is 30 or 60 FPS, I just play the games lol.
I play on resolution settings on ps5 over performance so I'm assuming I still play @30fps and my experiences with returnal, rachet, sackboy, HFW, gt7 etc have been awesome.
I'm sure some gamers go into playing games over analyzing things rather than just enjoying the games?

darthv72341d ago

Since im getting older, I know my eyes arent as good as they used to be. So why waste the quality mode... i choose performance now where available.

Bathory666341d ago

It’s about quality n performance. Your probably using a really cheap tv. There’s a difference in competitive gaming fighters shooters where 60-120fps make or break the game. Seeing what your playing, those games are not high responsive framerate games. No one’s using VRR for sackboy. Get real.

Master-Tonberry342d ago

No hate, but you have managed to dodge around the main issue somewhat.

40 as you say is a vast improvement over 30fps and is a reasonable compromise, and 30fps on the SteamDeck is indeed a decent experience but that's due almost entirely to the small screen.
The main problem is 30fps on a large screen which is for many (including myself) an unpleasant experience.

ABizzel1342d ago (Edited 342d ago )

One correction the screen size has less to do with it, but display type / software / refresh rate can. While 30fps isn't ideal it doesn't fell bad as long as a game has a locked 30fps, proper frame pacing, well-managed latency, a proper sense of speed, and good motion blur.

The issues happen when more than one of these isn't right, and something just feels noticeably off.

Constantly dropping frames causes frame time spikes, screen-tearing, and stutter.
Bad frame pacing causes random stutters (Souls Games)
Bad latency makes controls feel sluggish and unresponsive
A bad sense of speed makes a game look off, and the 30fps is more noticeable
And bad motion blur or a lack thereof makes animation and motion more choppy

The introduction of 40fps modes is going to be a well-welcomed improvement for AAA games, that just can't stick to 60fps.

abstractel341d ago

I love the 45fps mode in Horizon, perfect compromise to me, but how many people own a display that supports VRR? If you game on a monitor y]ou're fine, but a lot of TVs don't support VRR so developers have to take that into consideration.

I've had this discussion with co-workers in development and hardcore gamer friends, and opinions vary. Part of the problem is that because we've been cross-gen for two years we're used to the 60fps option. Are gamers going to be willing to go back to 30fps? I hope so personally (for the right games) but we'll see.

R&C is one of the few PS5 exclusives and it looked next-gen/new-gen, and they were able to put in a 60fps mode. Insomniac also stated that it was just the tip of the iceberg of what the PS5 can handle from their point of view so we'll see as soon as we get some Spider-man 2 and Wolverine footage... Epic is also working hard on upgrading FSR and other systems to get 60fps running on PS5 and Xbox Series X (not likely for Series S though) so we'll see.

Eonjay342d ago

Nearly all of the games released this gen have supported 60 FPS. I really don't see why it needs to be contentious. Also this article states that a return to 30 is inevitable... But even now we are seeing devs moves on to 40 FPS when possible. What is inevitable are more devs going the WWS route and give 30, 40, 60 and 120 modes with VRR to boot the problem at the offset is building all of those modes into 3 different next gen platforms. That gotta be a lot of work.

Neonridr342d ago

problem is as games get more ambitious, the hardware can't quite keep up. Sure they are doing a good job now but how many true next gen games have we had? We are still living in a cross generation world right now where games are being designed for the lesser systems.

Neonridr342d ago

playing at 30 is tolerable, however once you start consistently playing at 60+ it's hard to go back. I have the luxury of having a pretty beefy PC along with my consoles, so it's sad being able to play games there at 4k/60+ fps only to have to possibly come back to 30fps on my console. That being said, I understand the price I paid for my PC so it's understandable that consoles can't deliver that same level all the time.

-T9X-69-341d ago

While the first half is true, that doesn't excuse poor optimization and lack of fidelity/performance options. Sure my PS5 can't touch my PC in terms of power and performance. However, those options have been industry standard for next-gen.....errr current-gen. They can absolutely offer native/checkerboard 4K @ 30, or 2K @ 60. The same way we can alter our PC settings to match our hardware, the devs can do the same thing prior to shipping a product. Most importantly, optimize those settings for a locked 30 and at the very least, variable 60.

Maybe a few years down the road, that 2K 60 might be harder to achieve without implementation of things like checkerboard 2K. At least the option would be there though. There just haven't been a lot of true "next-gen" games to even start with the "consoles aren't powerful enough".

WB trying to justify their lack of options for Gotham Knight is just laughable. Oh it's CPU limiting due to the huge open world with un-tethered co-op. Yet even with a 3080+i7 10700k, I can't get a solid 60FPS on ANY settings even in SP, let alone co-op. I truly feel sorry for anyone who was really looking forward to this game and got it on consoles. As gamers, we've been fed (mostly 3rd party) unoptimized shovelware for far too long. Cross gen titles being canceled and moving to current gen only and still running like garbage is just unacceptable.

andy85341d ago

You're right. Before I would have turned my nose up at 40 but it's very playable and the exact middle point between 30 and 60 fps. If they do start to push the consoles hard I'd hope the 30 fps ones do have a 40 fps mode. Although I'd hope they just have a lower res option at 60 instead

seanpitt23341d ago

That’s why ps5 pro next year will give the extra power for 60fps

Neonridr341d ago

could you imagine if they tried to pull that? People can't even get a PS5 and then along comes a Pro model, lol

andy85341d ago

It wouldn't surprise me to be honest. But bringing out pro model would free up the regular PS5 for others. Although by the time that would be out there will be no stock issues anyway.

shinoff2183341d ago

I agree xbladeteddy.

I think 30 is fine. 60 is nice and I wont complain I also wont complain about 30. To much stock gets put into frames per second I swear

zeuanimals341d ago

Smooth frame pacing is the most important thing and plenty of devs keep missing this mark.

BioShockGX341d ago

Just because your standards are low doesn't mean everyone is. Give me 60fps or no buy.

340d ago
+ Show (7) more repliesLast reply 340d ago
Fritzwochel342d ago

Devs get lazier and lazier when it comes to optimisations.. Except for a wee few Switch devs.

SeTTriP342d ago

Has nothing to do with laziness and everything resolution.

Devs want they're games to be showed of and console are not p.c as it can't brute force results.

onisama342d ago (Edited 342d ago )

some are lazy like WB with gotham knights but game like plague tales is too beautiful and graphically demanding and in the future games will be more demanding its always been like this...last gen games started with 1080p game release and ended with 720p and 900p upscaled to 1080p
or was that xbox360/ps3? i dont remember time pass fast

EvertonFC342d ago

It certainly wasn't last gen lol although I think some Xbox one games were 900p twds the end ?

StarkR3ality341d ago

@everton

Both consoles dropped below 1080p, became more prevelant as the gen went on and DRS was introduced in more games to avoid frame drops. Pretty sure some (mainly on Xbox but PS4 too) dropped to 720p, that's why most last gen games look like you're staring through plastic film on a large 4K display.

CantThinkOfAUsername342d ago

Gamers get stupider and stupider when it comes to game development.. Except for a wee few who follow devs.

The3faces342d ago

I know I'm in the minority but I prefer 30fps with all the graphical bells and whistles.

MrNinosan342d ago

Same, always go for Fidelity before Performance, mainly because my TV is so huge that I want to get the best pixelcounts as possible.

obidanshinobi342d ago

A lot of 30fps games look worse the bigger screen you have though.
Horizon FW for example is awful at 30fps on a 50" TV, yet smooth as butter at 60fps.

CS7341d ago

I played Horizon at 30 fps on a 55” TV and loved every second

340d ago
gold_drake342d ago

i honestly just want a game that works without any major bugs.