Bethesda Likes the Idea of PS4 Neo/Xbox Scorpio-Style Hardware Upgrades

While some expected game makers to view mid-cycle hardware upgrades as a negative, we've actually seen many companies speak positively about them. The latest to comment on the subject is Bethesda, and it, too, seems enthusiastic.

"I think that kind of stuff is great," Bethesda marketing VP Pete Hines tells GameSpot during an interview at QuakeCon. "I mean, having more robust hardware is ... We're big fans of it."

At this point, things are still early and many of the details are unconfirmed, at least publicly. As such, Hines couldn't speak much to the specifics of what impact the new hardware will have on Bethesda.

"What that does for us, I mean, right now it's all talk, right?" he says. "They're not out and we're still early days on it. It remains to be seen exactly what impact it has."

Hines also notes that he's "all for stuff that makes games look better" and anything that "gives our devs more tools to work with to sort of implement the game they have in their heads."

As noted above, some people were expecting developers to respond negatively to the prospect of having to deliver games for even more platforms. While reiterating that it's early days, Hines seems pleased that developing games for multiple versions of the PS4 or Xbox One won't be the equivalent of working on PS3 and PS4 versions of the same game.

"It doesn't feel like, for example, Wolfenstein [The New Order] or Evil Within. Right?" he explains. "Both of those products had to launch on PC and 360 and PS3 and PS4 and Xbox One. That is an enormous pain in the ass. I would prefer to never put any dev through that again, but it doesn't seem like that's what it is. It's not PS3 and PS4.

"It seems like, well, it's PS4, but if you have this hardware it's going to do this stuff, or it's Scorpio and so it works on Xbox One. If you have the Scorpio then it does all this other stuff."

Other big publishers like Take-Two, Ubisoft, and EA have also spoken positively about the new hardware. Just this week, EA described it as "great for the industry."