Phil Spencer: Framerate is more important than resolution

Q: You're clearly a man who pays attention to fan feedback, and one of the growing noises among the community this year has been regarding '1080p-gate' and the constant recurrence of multiplatform titles running at a higher resolution on PS4 compared to Xbox One. You've done a great job of updating the platform on a monthly basis this year... do you feel you'll eventually get to a position where multiplatform games have total parity with you rival?

You know, and I'm not picking on you, but that's the first time I've been asked that question in months, and I always take how many times I get asked something as to how interesting it is to your readers. We have done a lot of work with our partners and we constantly evolve our development tools. We announced that Destiny will have the same resolution and framerate on Xbox One as PS4.

There are a long list of games. Reaching parity with our partners has been important. But in the end I don't want it to be about a number, because 1080p isn't some mythical, perfect resolution. Framerate to me is significantly more important to gameplay than resolution and the mix of those two which brings the right art style and freedom, whether it's on PlayStation or our platform.

I look at games like The Order on Sony's platform and they picked a different resolution - I like the resolution that they picked, I think it's interesting. I want to put the tools in the hands of the artists and not try to math it that there's some sort of math answer for the what the right resolution and frame rate is for a game - because there isn't.

Clearly some genres like with racing sims like Forza, hitting 1080p/60fps is important. So there are certain genres where there's an expectation, but there are also other genres where I'd rather use the cycles to put more effects on screen or better lighting. I've got to put the tools in the hands of developers.

SOURCE

See, personally, I agree. Resolution is ultimately meaningless, it doesn't affect gameplay at all, whereas framerate in fact does. I find Sony's emphasis on resolution to the exclusion of everything else to be troubling.

Having said that...

I also find Spencer's own comments regarding this pretty damn hypocritical, considering that so many major upcoming Xbox One games are not in fact running at 60 FPS. Most laughably, he calls out Forza as a game that he thinks should be at 60 frames, and Forza Horizon 2 is running at 30 frames per second to reach is 1080p resolution.

Still, at least he has his priorities right. Hopefully Sony starts focusing on framerate over resolution soon too. I don't care if it's 720p as long as it is 60FPS.

I agree that framerate is more important. However, I think consistency is most important. Huge dips in the framerate are the worst. Going from 60 to 15, or even 30 is bad. I makes for an ugly image and playability suffers. I remember playing pc games and knowing that the game would suffer when too much was going on..

IMHO, the really stupid part about the resolutiongate is that we don't actually have next gen only multiplats yet to assure if either console can actually run them at 1080p, besides EA UFC, but that's a poor example.

BTW, while i agree with your last phrase, i read that Halo 2 A may not be 1080p after all, but it'll still be 60fps. Also, in Halo 5's multiplayer trailer, they emphasize 60fps. Not sure about the resolution. But other examples, such as Sunset Overdrive at 30fps exist.

I agree. Depending on the genre it can be a real game changer.

inb4acraptonofpcgamersfeeltheneedtosaytheyhaveboth

He'd say the exact opposite if he felt it benefited Microsoft in some way.

I rather have 900p and more frame-rate G!

Than 1080p and 30fps do you agree!

Mo Pixels are nice but it's better to see twice!

PC you can have both but you need to pull off a heist to afford one!

He does. He's talking about Forza Motor Sport. That's the sim one. FH (the one where you can go off road without loss of speed or control) is the other one.

All FM games have been 60fps no matter the cost. FH games are arcade game which use the Forza name for branding only, they could call it anything they wanted to be honest.

99% of the time the PS4 does both, it's all good in the hood Phil.

:) MGS FTW.

@HalcyonScarlet: I would argue an arcade racer probably needs a higher framerate more than a racing sim. I might be wrong (I don't much have experience with racing sims, to be entirely honest), but arcade racers, I can safely say, benefit greatly from higher framerates.

No surprise there.

I don't think many bother though. With arcade games, they usually push graphics quality higher and lock it at 30 fps, except for those awesome futuristic racers I miss so much (Wipeout, Extreme G and F-Zero). With sims i think they do it for accuracy, but they'll hold back on graphics quality for frame rate everytime. FM3 and 4 would have looked much better at 30fps.

@HalcyonScarlet: Well, all I can say is, I would rather play Mario Kart, Sonic All Stars, Need For Speed, or Burnout, at 60FPS rather than 30FPS.

A shame for Phil that the PS4 does both better 95% of the time.

I'd LOVE to play the new MK, it looks so awesome. I have the Sonic All Stars on my PC and it doesn't feel like 60fps. Is Burnout Paradise at 60fps, didn't feel it either? I might try it with the settings on low to see if that was my issue, but I don't think it was.

@HalcyonScarlet: I don' think Sonic is 60 FPS (not on consoles, anyway, I wouldn't know about the PC version). Burnout Paradise, again, I haven't played the PC version so I don't know about that either, unfortunately.

But yes, Mario Kart 8 is amazing. It might be the purest game Nintendo has released in a very long time. It's certainly the best Mario Kart game in the series.

delusional much?

Infamous 30fps, Order 30fps, and I bet Uncharted 4 30fps.

Well it's not just because xbox one is struggling with resolutions or anything.

That's true.

I have transformed on steam as well, but I'm still on the first. I know if I move on, I'll never play the first again.

@HalcyonScarlet: The first one is so bad in comparison to Transformed lol. Just ditch it and move on, you won't regret it.

Plus, it's the closest to Mario Kart 8's glory that you can come xD

No

They are both important.

/thread

He's right

this guy gets it

This is wrong.

And this.

They can both be important (absolute scale), and one can still be more important than the other (relative scale).

Well...sure...I mean....if you're making a game 1080p but has a framerate of like 10fps....coughGTAVcough.....then yeah...it would get annnoying.

But I think 1080p and 30 fps which a lot of games play at is fine. He's just damage controlling since the X1 can't do 1080p without it being an old engine or some lame excuse like that.

Def true, without framerate you have no gameplay

Well, it depends on the game. A racing game? I would disagree. Shooter? Ditto. Fighter? Same. But, say, a game like The Order, or Ryse? Sure, go ahead, make them 30FPS and 'cinematic.' But most games benefit from higher framerates, and if you had to priotise one, I would rather you prioritise framerate.

Framerate is the only time I care about Graphics.

He himself probably doesn't know half the stuff he talks about. But I concur.

@charizard1605: I thought the same thing about racing games...but Driveclub is suppose to be 30fps and I've been told it's more arcady....so it's not the same. I guess I'll get a taste of 30fps and racing soon enough and find out for myself.

Well, see, DriveClub being 30FPS is precisely the reason I'm not all that hot on it.

If you want to see what an arcadey 30FPS racer feels like, check out NFS: Rivals released last year. Great game let down by the framerate.

PS4 delivers higher resolution and higher frame rates.... Cows can have both but not lemmings.

Of course it is, higher framerates mean less controller Lag, i would rather have a lower resolution than Low framerates that cause controller Lag.

Indeed so get a PC, otherwise settle for one or the other on consoles (in most cases).

Of course it is, higher framerates mean less controller Lag, i would rather have a lower resolution than Low framerates that cause controller Lag.

Not really, i doubt he even cares, he probably earns more money in a week than you earn in a year, the only people this really bothers is SONY drones, nobody else really cares in the real world.

"Reaching parity with our partners"...

Hmmm...

Took me 2 minutes. ^

Cool story, what does that have to do with anythinghe said?

How exactly is high salary benefiting the resolution and frame rate subject?

He is right alto he is just running damage control,the PS4 will always runs at faster frame than the xbox one when both are on the same resolution.

He should not go there after killing Kinect reservation in order to stop games from coming in 720p on xbox one resolution was inportant for them.

Did he say 100% of the times.?

They have no fps advantage so why even bringing that up? The Bones 'custom' lol resolution is like playing games or watching movies in 480p, just why? Better or should i say much better options are available for the same price so f*ck yo couch, Phil!

@Legend002 said:

Took me 2 minutes. ^

haha nice

I 100% agree. Fighting games, racers, and the like should try to hit 60 fps, though some racers at 30 fps felt fine to me. Nothing is wrong with a 30 fps lock on single player games imo. It feels fine, multiplayer is different though.