EA Sports' Ignite engine not on PC because average PCs not powerful enough

EA Sports' Andrew Wilson explains why the Ignite engine isn't being used for FIFA 14, and what will have to happen before EA uses it on the platform.

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Next-gen games from EA Sports will use the company's shiny new Ignite engine. However, EA Sports is targeting PS4 and Xbox One, without any mention of PC. FIFA 14, the lone annual sports franchise still appearing on PC, isn't using it. EA Sports executive VP Andrew Wilson has explained why, but says the engine might make the jump to the PC at some point.

Wilson told Polygon that FIFA in particular has a global audience, and most people around the world don't have PCs powerful enough to handle the latest and greatest tech. That's why, until the release of FIFA 11, the company used different engines on PC and consoles. The same logic is at play now.

"So could I see the potential for EA Sports Ignite to make it to PC in the future? Yes, I think it's possible, but a couple of things need to happen," Wilson said. Those criteria include the average PC specs being on-par with the next-gen consoles. It being the average is important, since EA Sports reach such a wide audience, and not all of them have powerful rigs.

Once that happens, he implied that EA would get to work tweaking the engine to work on PC. "There needs to be some adjustment in terms of how EA Sports Ignite works to facilitate the open nature of PC architecture, rather than the closed nature of console architecture."

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    June 18, 2013 10:30 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, EA Sports' Ignite engine not on PC because average PCs not powerful enough.

    EA Sports' Andrew Wilson explains why the Ignite engine isn't being used for FIFA 14, and what will have to happen before EA uses it on the platform.

    • reply
      June 18, 2013 10:33 AM

      "There needs to be some adjustment in terms of how EA Sports Ignite works to facilitate the open nature of PC architecture, rather than the closed nature of console architecture."

      We want your shit cloud exclusive, bish.

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      June 18, 2013 10:42 AM

      lol

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        June 18, 2013 4:38 PM

        This is the only appropriate response.

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      June 18, 2013 10:43 AM

      I bet they'll complain that no one buys FIFA 14 on PC.

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        June 18, 2013 11:02 AM

        I couldn't tell you the last time I played a FIFA game.

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          June 18, 2013 12:29 PM

          I just wish they would release NHL for the PC again :(

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            June 18, 2013 9:34 PM

            Seriously....i didn't care about Madden on PC as much as I did NHL.

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        June 18, 2013 10:11 PM

        [deleted]

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      June 18, 2013 10:43 AM

      *facepalm*

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      June 18, 2013 10:46 AM

      My 2 year old s**tbox can run Crysis at max settings and EA claims 'the average PC isn't powerful enough'?

      Either their engine is utter crap and won't run on the new consoles either or they have some kind of exclusivity deal going on. I have not seen anything that would suggest that Ignite is in any way more advanced than say, CryEngine or UE4.

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        June 18, 2013 10:48 AM

        Maybe it just doesn't scale down well. Is it being used on current gen consoles or just next gen?

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          June 18, 2013 11:50 AM

          Ignite is PS4/Xbox One. It won't run on the PS3/360 either.

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        June 18, 2013 12:30 PM

        Crysis is targeting old old console hardware. These engines are targeting new consoles with the equivalent hardware of a pretty new PC, it's rather different. I suspect FIFA is the only sports franchise with an even slightly appreciable PC userbase

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      June 18, 2013 10:48 AM

      what is an average PC? mine is 18 months old and runs anything quite well in 1080p.

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        June 18, 2013 10:51 AM

        6 year old Dell with GMA 950 graphics.

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        June 18, 2013 10:57 AM

        Valve's surveys always give me the impression that the average pc is far far weaker than I thought.

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          June 18, 2013 11:53 AM

          Yes, posting on this site gives you a skewed perspective of the average PC gamer.

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          June 18, 2013 3:20 PM

          Not to mention outside of the US. EU average is at least two gens behind us, often more.

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        June 18, 2013 11:03 AM

        [deleted]

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        June 18, 2013 11:05 AM

        Anything with a Voodoo card.

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        June 18, 2013 12:09 PM

        My PC is like 5 years old. 8800GTS baby!

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          June 18, 2013 12:22 PM

          high 5 8800GTS buddy!

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          June 18, 2013 12:53 PM

          GT 240 here!

        • reply
          June 18, 2013 3:06 PM

          Fuck yeah!

        • reply
          June 18, 2013 3:25 PM

          This sub thread makes me sad for you guys...I feel like starting a collection basket no one should suffer like you guys...Fuck world vision and their kids these guys NEED updated VIDEO CARDS!

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            June 18, 2013 3:40 PM

            Until Witcher 2 came out, I've not faced a game that I've wanted to play that I couldn't run at 1080p pretty damn well. This generation of games has been very kind to people who don't upgrade often.

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            June 18, 2013 10:40 PM

            [deleted]

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            June 19, 2013 12:52 AM

            I have a 4870x2, 9800 gtx and a gx2 sitting in the shed corroding away. I figured they were so old no one would want them :/

      • reply
        June 18, 2013 12:12 PM

        Pretty bad. The number of people I know who played WoW or other games almost always had 6+ year old stuff.

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        June 18, 2013 3:44 PM

        Average PC is a 4 year old laptop with an integrated GPU.

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        June 18, 2013 10:07 PM

        Pentium 1 with Turbo, running at 66 mhz :(

      • reply
        June 18, 2013 10:11 PM

        [deleted]

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        June 19, 2013 12:49 AM

        According to valve's latest hardware survey, a dual core intel CPU (2.3 - 2.69 ghz) with 8 gb of ram and onboard video (Intel HD 3000).

        So the average PC is fucking pathetic.

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      June 18, 2013 11:47 AM

      Battlefront 3 with minecraft graphics?

    • reply
      June 18, 2013 11:49 AM

      How has Microsoft not hired this guy as a PR rep yet?

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      June 18, 2013 11:58 AM

      Translation: We don't want to pay money for QC across legions of different hardware configurations.

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      June 18, 2013 11:59 AM

      Yes, because god forbid you make the engine just a bit flexible.......

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      June 18, 2013 12:05 PM

      Well next gen consoles will definitely have more cpu cores than your average pc. You'd have a duel socket motherboard to beat them in that number.

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      June 18, 2013 12:08 PM

      [deleted]

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      June 18, 2013 12:23 PM

      http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey?platform=pc

      Well they're probably right.

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      June 18, 2013 12:39 PM

      Whatever EA.

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      June 18, 2013 12:45 PM

      MORE POWER

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      June 18, 2013 1:21 PM

      the average PC will soon be a tablet. death to the PC!

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      June 18, 2013 2:19 PM

      So EA is advertising that they definitely don't want PC or Nvidia business anymore? Why are they MARKETING these facts!?

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      June 18, 2013 2:41 PM

      So the ignite engine is that much more demanding than Frostbite 2? Why do I find that hard to believe.

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        June 18, 2013 3:01 PM

        correction, frostbite 3.

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        June 19, 2013 2:05 AM

        It could be that's it not designed to scale down well, unlike Frostbite 2 which still runs well enough on slow hardware. There are trade-offs.

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      June 18, 2013 3:29 PM

      Basically they have only one PC sports product that would use this engine. It's not worth it to them to QA and bug fix the engine for all PC hardware combinations for just one product. Sucks, but it makes business sense.

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      June 18, 2013 4:16 PM

      They never word this stuff correctly. Correct answer was probably "there aren't enough customers that would play FIFA with the necessary specs for us to bother with it". But instead they do some stupid blanket statement.

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        June 18, 2013 5:25 PM

        What you said would have gotten the same uproar from people who think that their Ivy Bridge i5 OC'd 25% with a Titan is a "normal" computer.

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        June 18, 2013 10:10 PM

        for real. fifa 14 is also shipping for the playstation 2. obviously this is a game whose playerbase isn't all up to the latest and greatest hardware

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          June 18, 2013 10:51 PM

          Guess we can just use our inferior hardware to emulate the PS2 and play it that way.

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          June 18, 2013 10:53 PM

          Guess we'll just have to use our inferior hardware to emulate the PS2 and play it that way.

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      June 18, 2013 8:44 PM

      Fuck EA.

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      June 18, 2013 9:07 PM

      These corporate/PR people really don't know how to talk to gamers lol

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      June 19, 2013 12:40 AM

      Now THAT was a funny article. Wait, they actually believe that crap? LOL

      Wow...just...EA...um...yeah, wow. Total fail.

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      June 19, 2013 12:41 AM

      No loss.

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      June 19, 2013 7:19 AM

      I'm sure the people who don't have a powerful enough rig would be the console players anyway... also I bet a PC would have adjustable graphics settings. It's not like they could make a game with dx9, dx10, and dx11 ticks... oh wait, they do have those. If only they could make a "make crowd paper people" option.

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