Knitted Knight
Banned
Noted horror insider, Dusk Golem, has taken to Twitter to offer some context as to why plans seem to have changed at Capcom with regards to Resident Evil 8’s development.
Okay, I got some clarification on why they made RE8 next-gen only, when it was cross-gen previously. With the updated graphic fidelity overhaul they're doing (still in progress), the way RE8 was designed lead to past-gen consoles having a lot of pop-in/long texture loads/ load times because the game has you traveling through most of the Village and had a lot of load zones. Because there's a bigger focus on exploration this would lead to the last-gen console versions having notable issues, and it was holding back how pretty they could make certain scenes. So they decided to drop the last-gen versions of the game to make it so the game had no loading at all (not limited by last gen hardware) and push the graphic overhaul further without the limitations of last-gen tech in mind.
— AestheticGamer aka Dusk Golem (@AestheticGamer1) June 13, 2020
— AestheticGamer aka Dusk Golem (@AestheticGamer1) June 13, 2020
— AestheticGamer aka Dusk Golem (@AestheticGamer1) June 13, 2020
https://www.psu.com/news/resident-evil-8-ps4-version-cancelled-due-to-development-problems-report/
If true this is a very interesting piece of news. It basically tells us developers are already starting to prioritize their creative vision (and the experience they want gamers to have) over current-gen install base economics. Still; it's obviously up in the air the amount of developers that will take this stance in year 1. What this news does describe is a real latent want by developers to move away as quickly as possible from current gen shackles to explore new design possibilities courtesy of next-gen hardware.
How much is being held back by developers targeting these platforms? It brings to mind Microsoft's decision to have their exclusives support current gen hardware (Halo 5) and HDD's in particular. Also, as far as this specific case is concerned, it brings the question as to what the minimum reqs for PC will be for Resident Evil 8.
Do you think current gen will be hampering cross-gen games significantly?
Should we look at it on a case by case basis?
Do you want to see more devs do what Capcom is doing here and completely ditch current gen?
Discuss.
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