Report: Devs say PS4 vs Xbox One performance is 'obvious' and 'significant'

A new report suggests that the lead PS4 has is still "significant" and "obvious," with PS4 offering up to 50 percent more performance than Xbox One.

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Sony is confidently boasting that PS4 is the most powerful gaming console ever. Microsoft concedes that Xbox One can't meet PS4 spec--but says that the differences between the two consoles have been "overstated." But what do developers say of the supposed gulf between the two consoles?

A new report suggests that the lead PS4 has is still "significant" and "obvious," with PS4 offering up to 50 percent more performance than Xbox One.

Edge contacted numerous game development sources that are working on multiplatform titles. One example given to the site says that, without optimization for either console, a build will run at around 30FPS in 1920x1080 on PS4, but "20-something" FPS in 1600x900 on Xbox One. That certainly is both "significant" and "obvious."

Microsoft has recently boosted Xbox One spec, but one developer told the site that while "the clock speed update is not significant, it does not change things that much."

There are still instances where Xbox One will still have an advantage, however. "Let's say you are using procedural generation or raytracing via parametric surfaces--that is, using a lot of memory writes and not much texturing or ALU--Xbox One will be likely be faster," one developer said.

It's important to point out that it's still early days for both consoles. Microsoft, in particular, has suffered from poor drivers. Described as "horrible" by one dev, their drivers have been hurting performance. Undoubtedly, that's something that will continue to improve after the console's launch.

And while PS4 may have the edge in terms of performance, gamers are unlikely to notice--not at launch, anyway. "The poor [graphics] drivers have made it difficult to push either of them, and the developers aren't familiar with the hardware yet," one developer said. Another echoed that sentiment, saying that developers need more time to learn each console's quirks and take advantage of their unique features.

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    September 13, 2013 9:00 AM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Report: Devs say PS4 vs Xbox One performance is 'obvious' and 'significant'.

    A new report suggests that the lead PS4 has is still "significant" and "obvious," with PS4 offering up to 50 percent more performance than Xbox One.

    • reply
      September 13, 2013 9:05 AM

      I find it hard to believe that Microsoft is suffering from poor drivers.

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        September 13, 2013 9:06 AM

        They should let Jesus take the wheel.

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        September 13, 2013 9:07 AM

        It follows up with other reports that they're not as prepared as Sony for the launch this year. They'll get there, I'm sure.

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          September 13, 2013 9:13 AM

          Well, Microsoft has more to do (basically everything Sony is doing plus entering new territory with the Kinect and TV integration), so that would make sense. Still, it's a bit strange that the graphics drivers are not up to par, since the GPU and OS are so similar to existing systems (graphics cards and Windows).

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            September 13, 2013 2:31 PM

            But even GPU drivers for both NVIDIA and AMD have been unbearable recently.... It's like everyone forgot how to write a decent driver for anything.

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        September 13, 2013 6:07 PM

        [deleted]

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      September 13, 2013 9:27 AM

      What quirks do debs need to familiarize themselves with on these machines? I thought they were super straight forward this time.

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        September 13, 2013 9:44 AM

        The specs seem like they would be, maybe this is just the case of "next gen, well we can do anything!" mentality.

        It happened last time with the ps3 and 360 for the company I was working for the "target" was way out of wack with what the hardware could do, we just had to suck it up and trim it down. Granted things got better with time, learning tricks and quirks, but the two consoles never did live up to what most devs thought they could do within that first year.

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      September 13, 2013 9:53 AM

      I just can't wait to see what Naughty Dog pulls off this generation

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