Xbox's Spencer on 1080p/60fps: Developers Decide Resolution and Frame-Rate

According to Microsoft's Head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, the Xbox One is fully capable of delivering games at 1080p/60fps, and it's up to developers to decide the final resolution and frame-rate that's best for their game. Spencer's comments came in response to a fan who asked him on Twitter if there would be 1080p games coming to Xbox One in the future.

"Devs will decide res and fps but yes, there are already 1080p games on xbox one," Spencer said. Turn 10's Xbox One launch title Forza Motorsport 5 runs in 1080p/60fps, while Microsoft just this week confirmed that another entry in the Forza series for Xbox One, Forza Horizon 2, would also run in 1080p. But since it's an open-world game, frame-rate will be a locked 30fps.

Immediately following Microsoft's announcement last month that Kinect would be removed from Xbox One bundles come June 9, it was reported that the system might see better technical performance because developers would no longer be limited by the rumored Kinect graphics resource reservation. However, Spencer has downplayed this suggestion, telling multiple fans on Twitter that they can keep their Kinects plugged in and still see optimal performance.

"You don't need to unplug anything," Spencer said. "Kinect will work great when it should and games will do what they need to do to use GPU."

Many multiplatform games, including Call of Duty: Ghosts and Battlefield 4, output in a higher native resolution on PlayStation 4 compared to Xbox One, but it may not be this way forever. Earlier this week, Microsoft announced that a new Xbox One update for developers will boost the console's GPU power. As a result, developers should find better performance and flexibility from the console.