We are on the verge of a new generation of consoles. We’re still in an early phase here where we know the numbers under the hood, the guts of the systems so to speak, but still haven’t seen a whole lot of action from the machines themselves. As is also the case, some people just can’t seem to help but set themselves up for disappointment as imaginations run wild with new possibilities. But it seems as if one of those dreams got crushed today.
Xbox’s Aaron Greenberg took to Twitter to response to Tom Warren, Senior Editor at The Verge, to clarify a statement he made earlier. Greenberg had said that 60 FPS would be a ‘standard’ for the Xbox Series X in reply to a question, which caused confusion with people thinking this meant it was some kind of requirement that any game running on the Xbox Series X. He clarified to say that was not the case, as a there would not be a ‘mandate’ of any kind and that it will be up to developers and publishers to decide how they use the hardware. It’s still not entirely clear what Greenberg was actually referencing in the original comment, that at least puts things straight.
Of course, it’s common sense in a lot of ways. It’s not as if Microsoft, or Sony for that matter, are going to outright refuse certifying major games on their system, such as the new Assassin’s Creed for instance (that looks like it may not run at full 60 FPS on the Xbox Series X) if they aren’t targeting 60 FPS. And with a ‘mandate’ does that mean games targeting 60 FPS but not hitting it consistently not all be certified? But in lieu of new toys, common sense does tend to go out the window. Either way, we’ll just have to see when the machine comes to market and we get a wider array of titles how it all shapes up.