Crytek: PS4 and Xbox 720 no match for PC

[Crisp]

Crytek: PS4 and Xbox 720 no match for PC

Crysis 3 makers say next generation console offers still lag behind desktop computing power.

As Sony prepares what could be its PlayStation 4 announcment later this week and Microsoft's rumoured to not be far behind, Crytek boss Cevat Yerli has said they don't hold a candle to modern PCs.

Restricted by non-disclosure agreements, the Crysis maker told Eurogamer that the raw computing power of PCs will still far outpace the new consoles and that it would be "impossible" for the next PlayStation or Xbox to match desktop gaming machines.

"Without breaking NDAs that are in place, realistically, from purely a price point perspective, it is impossible," he explained.

"It's impossible to package $2000-3000 into a mainstream, let's say $500 console. I'm not saying they are $500 consoles. They may launch a console at $2000, but the consumer pricing is usually much lower than that."

Given consumer pricing and average cost of a high-spec gaming PC, which he says also requires a fridge-like amount of power to run, Yerli says the consoles wont even attempt it.

Crytek has been gearing up to release its CryEngine 3, says its next game building platform was built with the next generation of consoles in mind and that these same calculations put the Xbox 720 and PS4 well behind PCs.

"We used Moore's Law," he said. "If you predict how hardware evolves at the current speed of evolution, and then take consumer pricing evolution, already two years ago you could see, whatever launches in 2013 or 2014 or 2015, will never beat a PC again.

Source

I guess time will tell when DDR4 becomes the norm and AMD's 8000 series ships at the end of the year.

[TheLegendOfMart]

Wish Crytek would shut up, getting sick of seeing them in the news bragging about their Engine. Of course consoles are behind PCs, they also cost 1/3rd as much as a PC needed to max out games these days, not only that you don't have to upgrade a console to continue to run those games maxed out.

[+Byt Subscriber¹]

It doesn't really matter to me that their hardware will not match my PC, the games are optimized to max out the hardware that they do have. It usually takes a year after the consoles released for developers to start pushing a consoles potential to the limit anyway.

[TheLegendOfMart]

The funny thing is that you don't get many PC exclusive games so multiplatform games are developed for the lowest common denominator which is a console, so having a $2000 PC isn't going to mean much if you are running a game meant $350-400 console spec levels.

[psionicinversion]

i think the xbox and PS4 will prolly cost bout $7-800 then priced at half that amount, but last xboxs custom gpu was far better than what PC users had. This time round itll be 1 generation old tech if its using a 7xxx gpu and amd release 8xxxx before or at same time. 7970m will stick pack a punch for a fair while though. my 6870 is bout 2 years old now and can still play with the big guys at 1920x1080 with settings at max, so wont be so bad and will get some nice console ports hopefully

[duddit2]

The funny thing is that you don't get many PC exclusive games so multiplatform games are developed for the lowest common denominator which is a console, so having a $2000 PC isn't going to mean much if you are running a game meant $350-400 console spec levels.

I don't agree, the consoles generally have far simpler textures and graphical niceness.

[TheLegendOfMart]

You can't polish a turd, PC ports of console games usually have lower fidelity with regards to models, levels, textures, etc.. no matter how much bloom, motion blur, depth of field you plaster on.

[theyarecomingforyou]

The funny thing is that you don't get many PC exclusive games so multiplatform games are developed for the lowest common denominator which is a console, so having a $2000 PC isn't going to mean much if you are running a game meant $350-400 console spec levels.

Even though most multiplatform games are designed around consoles the PC version is still?almost without exception?the best version. That's because PC games have some or all of the following features: higher resolution, anti-aliasing, better textures (games like Assassin's Creed 3 have textures 4x the resolution), DX11 effects (tessellation, etc), 3D-support, higher framerate (support for 120Hz), more customisability (FOV slider, etc), mod support, screenshot functionality, better control schemes (keyboard + mouse, flight sticks, etc), hardware physics and more. Consoles provide a superior user experience and better ease of use but the difference between consoles and PC is greater than any generational console leap, which makes it all the more bizarre that people defend them so much - I mean, few people would argue the PS2 is better than the PS3 because it's cheaper or that the X360 is better than the X720 for that reason.

Crysis 3 looks great at 2560x1600, anti-aliasing and max settings. The next-gen consoles won't even come close.

[Salutary7]

Hardware specs are actually LESS relevant now. The PS4 and 720 will look good enough that most people won't care about how gaming on the PC is "better". There will always be those who prefer PC gaming because of the visual differences, but then those people aren't the target audience for selling consoles anyway.

[spaceelf]

Plus, with the PS4 and 720 devs will target the specs of the machine and not the specs of machines from ten years ago.

This is why I'm happily switching to the next consoles from PC. Sick of getting games optimized for ancient crap even on PC exclusives.

I'll still have my PC, and I'll still play games on it. I just have no idea if it'll actually prove to be worth upgrading any time in the near future (and I doubt it.)

[Astra.Xtreme]

They may have a case if most games weren't console ports. Games like Crysis and BF3 are a very small minority.

[Blackhearted]

Wish Crytek would shut up, getting sick of seeing them in the news bragging about their Engine. Of course consoles are behind PCs, they also cost 1/3rd as much as a PC needed to max out games these days, not only that you don't have to upgrade a console to continue to run those games maxed out.

Give it some time and it'll be like this console cycle has been. Where improvements in visuals have stopped completely and you can still max out games effortlessly on hardware from 3-4+ years ago.

[vcfan]

no **** Sherlock.

the purpose of a console is for it to be a living room game machine. you're not sitting in front of your tv like you are on a monitor,so the amount of detail is not necessary . its also meant to be cheaper,and very convenient.

[mrp04]

no **** Sherlock.

the purpose of a console is for it to be a living room game machine. you're not sitting in front of your tv like you are on a monitor,so the amount of detail is not necessary . its also meant to be cheaper,and very convenient.

This wasn't always the case. Consoles used to be competitive with moderately priced gaming PCs and even looked better for a year or so after they came out. This new generation of consoles is going to look worse than cheap gaming PCs on their launch day.

[George P Global Moderator]

He's really not saying anything new, the one bright spot about console gaming is the fact that it drives devs to code better and smarter because the hardware is limiting. On the pc they can just bang out some coding mess on the pc and tell you to get a newer card if it doesn't run that good for you.

[TheLegendOfMart]

This wasn't always the case. Consoles used to be competitive with moderately priced gaming PCs and even looked better for a year or so after they came out. This new generation of consoles is going to look worse than cheap gaming PCs on their launch day.

I think you are going to get a surprise.

8 Core CPU, AMD 7850/7870 GPU with 2Gb VRAM (maybe more or less because of the unified memory) is hardly a "cheap" PC.

[Breach]

Nothing wrong with consoles - they sell a lot. I still own a PS3 just for the sake of Heavy Rain and The Last of Us. I personally prefer 'the best of' IQ hence I own a pricey PC, but I can certainly understand that that puts me in the minority.

[Blackhearted]

I think you are going to get a surprise.

8 Core CPU, AMD 7850/7870 GPU with 2Gb VRAM (maybe more or less because of the unified memory) is hardly a "cheap" PC.

Neither of the next gen consoles will have a 7800 series gpu. Not if the 1.2(xbox3)/1.8(ps4) TFlops reports are true. It'd be a 7700 series at best.

[Hardcore Til I Die]

A 1TB (or bigger) HD and the ability to download every game over Xbox Live would mean a lot more to me than graphics.

[TheLegendOfMart]

Neither of the next gen consoles will have a 7800 series gpu. Not if the 1.2(xbox3)/1.8(ps4) TFlops reports are true. It'd be a 7700 series at best.

Incorrect, current rumours are that the Orbis at least is based on 7970M (which itself comes with 20CUs but orbis has some chopped off) 14CUs with a further 4 'special purpose' ALUs, 32ROPs, 80TMUs, running 800Mhz core speed. The 7970M itself is 2.2TF, with the disabled CUs the 1.8TF number being floated about for Orbis means it has a GPU that is somewhere in the region of desktop 7850.

The Durangos 12CU GPU is more in line with 7750/7770.

[@Leo]

When I get home from work I just want to lean back in my couch, turn my brain off and turn my console on hurr durr.

[Motoko.]

Thank you captain obvious.. *rolls eyes @ crytek*

[+Eternal Tempest MVC]

This is where Steam Big Picture Mode could make things interesting.

If you have a mid-high range gaming rig (not the one Valve is 1st putting out), hook it up to your tv and use an xbox controller on the pc...

You get the best of both worlds.

[Praetor]

The funny thing is that you don't get many PC exclusive games so multiplatform games are developed for the lowest common denominator which is a console, so having a $2000 PC isn't going to mean much if you are running a game meant $350-400 console spec levels.

Actually that's where the problem resides; we could had much better graphics with a PC exclusive and that could push graphics even further, but unfortunately games are made for the target that sells more: console gaming.

[nekrosoft13]

The funny thing is that you don't get many PC exclusive games so multiplatform games are developed for the lowest common denominator which is a console, so having a $2000 PC isn't going to mean much if you are running a game meant $350-400 console spec levels.

that BS, recent "ports" have better textures and the option of maxing AA and AF makes any port 100% better on PC then on console.

lets not even mention what community can do, just look at Oblivion, fallout or other games with big communities, they can makes games 1,000% better.