The PS4 Pro and the Xbox One X are rather fundamentally different hardware- the former is an iterative, conservative refresh of its base system, while the latter represents a full, radical overhaul. Indeed, it almost seems as though there is more difference between the hardware of the Xbox One X and PS4 Pro than there was between the vanilla Xbox One and PS4.
In a recent interview with the developers at Streum On Studio (the folks behind Space Hulk Deathwing), we asked them their take on the differences between the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X from a development perspective.
“The differences between PS4 Pro and Xbox One X are not as big in terms of development as you might think,” the development studio said to us. According to the development team, the actual hard part in development is getting the game to run properly on the base PS4 and Xbox One and that the new consoles allows them to add “cool bonuses”.
“[PS4 Pro and Xbox One X] They are both more powerful version of the “vanilla” console and serve the same purposes: providing a better graphical experience for the user. The hard part is getting your game to work well on the vanilla console, then the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X allows for cool bonuses,” they stated.
That is an interesting statement because the power difference between the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X, at least on paper seems to be quite wide. But as usual, developers see and approach these differences in a different manner while actually developing the game. Even the PS3 and Xbox 360, which were dramatically different hardware, were reasonably easy to develop for by the end of last generation. A lot of this has to do with streamlined development pipelines, and middleware such as Unreal Engine and Unity. Even the Switch, which is weaker hardware, and ARM instead of x86 unlike the other consoles, features a similar development pipeline at this point.
Stay tuned for our full interview with Streum On Studio.