PS5 and Xbox Series X Ray-Tracing Tech More Flexible Than Nvidia RTX 30 Series

PC gaming has been reaping the advantages for ray-tracing for a while now, but with the console space also having caught up with the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, the hope is that the technology is going to become much more standardized going forward. And while Nvidia have been at the forefront of pushing for and advancing ray-tracing, AMD, too, have been a major contender- it is their technology, after all, that is being used in the Xbox Series X/S and PS5.

Speaking recently in an interview with Wccftech, 4A Games’ chief technical officer Oleksandr Shyshkovtsov talked about how the ray-tracing tech in Nvidia’s new RTX 30 Series and how it compares with the AMD technology in the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. Shyshkovtsov says that though Nvidia’s tech is “in different leagues” from the consoels, AMD’s approach still offers more flexibility, allowing 4A Games to do things on consoles that are not possible on PC.

“As for the NV 3000-series, they are not comparable, they are in different leagues in regards to RT performance,” he said. “AMD’s hybrid raytracing approach is inherently different in capability, particularly for divergent rays. On the plus side, it is more flexible, and there are myriad (probably not discovered yet) approaches to tailor it to specific needs, which is always a good thing for consoles and ultimately console gamers. At 4A Games, we already do custom traversal, ray-caching, and use direct access to BLAS leaf triangles which would not be possible on PC.”

Further, when asked about whether he thinks ray-tracing will be more commonly used in games going forward, Shyshkovtsov said that will likely be the case, and that the tech can be used for much more than just visual boosts.

“As for future games: the short answer would be yes,” he said. “And not only for graphics, by the way. Why not path-trace sound for example? Or AI vision? Or some explosion propagation? We are already working on some of that.”

In the same interview, Shyshkovtsov also spoke about whether or not the Xbox Series S’ lower specs will prove problematic for development of games going forward, and how 4A Games have adapted to the PS5’s variable frequency.

4A Games recently announced that Metro Exodus: Enhanced Edition will be coming to PC later this year, while also sharing details on the game’s upcoming PS5 and Xbox Series X/S upgrade.