There has been a lot of debate regarding what works better for video games. Should developers prefer better frame rate over resolution or should they prefer pixels over smooth gameplay? These questions have given rise to the so called resolution and frame rate wars between PS4 and Xbox One. We recently raised this question in our interview with Umbra COO Sampo Lappalainen and according to him there is no right or wrong while selecting better frame rate over pixels and vice versa.
“Different kinds of games set different requirements for frame rates and often developers have their own strong preference to the 30 vs 60 fps debate. I personally really like 60 fps and think that it adds a lot to the overall gaming experience. The resolution question however is a bit more complicated. In some sense, HD -> 4k can be seen as a incremental change instead of a revolutionary one in terms of graphics fidelity and still it hogs *a lot* more GPU cycles. The developers have to decide between increasing the number of pixels on the screen or adding nicer effects. These are not easy decisions and there are no right answers,” he stated to GamingBolt.
He also stated that upcoming iterative consoles like the PS4 Pro and Xbox Scorpio will in fact increase the work load of developers given that they now need to take care of multiple resolutions for a single game.
“Now when 4k is emerging and the iterative console generations are in the horizon, the developers might have to support all possible configurations. Old console & HD TV, new console & HD TV and new console & 4k TV. This means more work for the developers just to get all the configurations supported. In addition it is also a matter of what people expect from the developers. For example, if someone buys a shiny new 4k TV and the console supports that, they will assume that the game supports it too,” he further added.
What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments section below.
