For all the credit that the PS4 and Xbox One, there’s no denying that their components are already quite old. Such is the problem with consoles which are stuck with the same hardware for years on end. However, the games still keep looking better thanks to improved optimization but can this current generation of consoles outlast the relatively short self-life of their respective components.
We spoke to Celtoys founder Don Williamson, who has experience with engine and pipeline optimization (besides developing the renderer for Splinter Cell: Conviction and was an engine lead for Fable), who stated that, “These are powerful machines with fixed architectures and some astonishing debug tools. On one of the games I worked on we created some amazing effects for Xbox One that have given us ideas for how it could be visually much better and more performant. The main variable in all this is how many skilled people you have and how much you’re willing to spend.
“These days the investment in great engine tech is no longer necessarily rewarding you with better sales. You have less developers going with their own solutions, instead investing money in programmers for the core game and those who can maintain a bought 3rd-party engine.
“You have some established pioneers like Naughty Dog thankfully making leaps and bounds in this area, but I’m unsure right now whether we’ll see as much progress as we did with the previous generation.”
The last statement from Don is a bit interesting. The rate at which graphics are improving on current gen consoles, will developers eventually hit the graphics wall? Several games like The Order: 1886 and Star Wars: Battlefront are already closing the gap between in-game visuals and real life simulations. However the bridge is still far away.
Thoughts on the same? Let us know in the comments below.