With the introduction of the current generation of consoles a new talking point has entered the fray: resolution. Over the past few years, gamers have become more acutely aware of a console release's resolution, and more importantly how it compares to other platforms. Case in point: the recent discussion surrounding Watch Dogs, and the differing resolutions it will run at.
And while there's no need to stoke a fire that's already burning pretty bright as it is, that's just what The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt developer CD Projekt Red did when discussing resolution and feature parity, or lack thereof, among the Xbox One and PS4 versions of their upcoming game.
Speaking with Eurogamer, the Polish-based studio revealed that the PS4 version of The Witcher 3 will likely run a little better than the Xbox One version.
"We are still working on squeezing the juice out of the consoles and Microsoft are supporting us in this respect. The final effect, whether it's 720p, 1080p - we had the debate in the studio about it and actually asked our tech guys to explain how it works, and they sent me some complicated graphs that 'if I have this size of the screen, and I sit one meter or two meters from it, then I might be able to see the difference'.
With plenty of time until the game's February 2015 release, the developers are still trying to squeeze the most juice out of each next-gen version, but currently it looks like the PS4 version may be the superior option when it comes to resolution — that is, for those who can't play the game on PC.
CD Projekt Red Co-Founder Marcin Iwinski also assures gamers that no concessions will be made to preserve parity between the console versions, and that the platform holders, Sony and Microsoft, had made no such requests either. Whatever differences there are between the two versions will not be obfuscated.
At the same time, Iwinski figures that those differences will likely be "tiny." He acknowledges that Sony will able to use the resolution as a selling point for the PS4 version, but claims that the areas where one version differs from the other, namely resolution, will not be meaningful to gamers.
"We're definitely working to max out each of the platforms in terms of what we can get, because that's a crucial element of The Witcher. Will there be big differences? Really I don't think so. It's too early to say. If there will be, they will be tiny. It will be more like people talking 'hey, I have this and you have that and this is better'."
Ultimately, the resolution issue has become one that should be handled on a case-by-case basis, and much closer to launch time. It's obvious from Iwinski's comments that CD Projekt Red wants to make every version of their game the best it can be, but he also acknowledges that the PS4 version will likely outperform the Xbox One version. It's the beauty of being an independent development studio — they can be open about these types of things without causing a massive uproar. Unfortunately, anytime resolution is brought up it typically leads to such an event.
The most important thing, in our minds, is that The Witcher 3 look great on whatever hardware gamers choose, and thus far the open world title has done nothing but impress. We'll have to wait and see whether that holds true once CD Projekt Red starts showing off non-PC versions, but for now we're excited.
Do you consider the lack of parity between console versions a prime incentive to pick one over the other? How important is resolution to you?
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is targeting a February 2015 release for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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Source: Eurogamer
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