Recently, The Coalition announced that Gears of War 4, the upcoming Xbox One exclusive fourth entry in the seminal third person shooter franchise, would be 1080p and 30fps in the single player mode, while it would be hitting 1080p and 60fps in the multiplayer mode. In a lot of ways, this is the perfect compromise- in single player, they can push visual quality while also affecting responsiveness and performance adversely in a mode where there are no competitive disadvantages to doing so; and in the multiplayer, they can push for high performance and low latency, and make concessions on video quality.
It appears as though that was exactly what the thought process was behind the decision, too- in a recent IGN Podcast, The Coalition’s studio head, Rod Fergusson, explained that the decision was made to have Gears 4 be a visual benchmark for Xbox One games, like Gears games have been previously, without necessarily impacting multiplayer.
It was a sensible decision- I just have to admit, I am surprised they were able to maintain 1080p throughout.
Gears of War 4 launches on Xbox One this October.
