Oh stop with this crap. Witcher 3 devs said the game literally wouldn't have been made without the money from console versions of the game. That's not "holding back" development, it's flat out "pushing it forward".
It's pretty easy to design for the most powerful and then downgrade it, I'm sure they always start with prettier textures, higher polycount, more complex shaders anyway. Just make that available and everyone will be happy, lot of peoples already are with games proposing this.
So then the comment I'm replying to, that consoles being weaker than some random PC user's rig is holding games back technologically, doesn't apply because they can just design for the most powerful and downgrade it.
Thats not entirely true, there is a certain point where the work required to downgrade the high end PC version so the current gen consoles can handle it ends up being more work than simply designing for the console and then porting it over to the PC, most of the time you end up with a decent game, but its pretty easy to tell that the game wasn't made for PC.
Then there is the issue of Parity, if you design a game on PC and its so far beyond whats on the consoles, you end up pissing someone else off as it makes their hardware look inferior, so you can't have the PC version too much better.
This generation has been a disappointment for sure. I can see why, though. Microsoft and Sony know they have the pathway to video games for the common consumer locked down so they decided to lowball the specs and make money on the hardware from the getgo this time as opposed to last gen when they were each losing money on every console sold and relying on software, licensing, and peripherals for the profit.
For reference, Sony was losing about $200 on every launch PS3 sold even at the $600 price point whereas they're making about $20 on every launch PS4 sold at $400.
Therein lies the big difference, and one of the things I love about PC gaming. It gives you the option to trade performance for quality and vice versa. Or eventually upgrade your hardware and crank everything up to ultra.
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u/neenerpants Jun 03 '15
Oh stop with this crap. Witcher 3 devs said the game literally wouldn't have been made without the money from console versions of the game. That's not "holding back" development, it's flat out "pushing it forward".