With past generations of gaming consoles, both the scale of the games and the improvements in graphics have been the big dividing lines. With the Xbox Series X, Xbox boss Phil Spencer says it’s all about frame rates and latency, but he argues that this is still a “dramatic step.”
“I think we are at a point now, with immersion, with the tools we have and the ability to calculate, that the deltas will be smaller due to a visual impact, or that characteristic X was never possible before and now it is”, Spencer explained in Gamelab Live, seen by our sister site TechRadar.
“And that may sound depressing to some, but what I would say is that the upside of what I’m seeing now is really the immersive nature of the content that is being created.”
This is a position similar to that of Microsoft Program Management Director for Xbox Series X, Jason Ronald, who previously explained that improvements in frame rate will result in “power you can feel”.
And it turns out that’s Spencer’s explanation too. Higher frame rates should lead to more immersion. “Today we can get almost realistic graphics, even in the current generation in certain cases,” he continued.
“But when you take that and mix it up with a very high frame rate, a solid frame rate, very little input latency and the ability of game storytellers to really drive the excitement and story that they’re trying to overcome their game, across the screen, through the controller and inside of you. That’s something I’m feeling in games now that it’s a dramatic breakthrough. “
Marketing hyperbole or a real difference?
Tellingly, both Ronald and Spencer are discussing frame rate and latency as the game’s big changers this time. In past generations, we’ve seen huge obvious differences: The jump from SNES to N64, for example, saw the advent of 3D graphics, while the move from PS2 to PS3 saw the explosion of online gaming.
Here, Spencer and Ronald are talking about something much more subtle: frame rate and latency. Not surprisingly, Spencer warned of this by saying that “it might sound depressing to some.”
Is the frame rate that important? Some PC gamers will tell you that it certainly is, and some buy gaming monitors that hit 240Hz refresh rates just to ensure their frame rate triples. That won’t necessarily be matched by consoles, of course: The rarity of televisions over 60Hz means that many players will experience a limit of 60fps, even if the consoles are technically capable of producing 120fps.
In the interview linked to the above, Ronald discusses how the power available here could lead to “entirely new kinds of games,” which seems a little hyperbole to me. After all, PCs have had this type of power available for years, and the games available are largely the same as those on the console.
The difference, of course, is the size of the market. Only a brave company is going to make a whole new gaming experience that’s only playable by the relatively small market of gamers with access to gaming PCs over $ 1,000. Making this type of power mainstream with the PS5 and Xbox Series X could make all the difference, unlocking new types of games for everyone.
We’ll have to wait and see what the gaming landscape looks like in a couple of years to see if Ronald was being prophetic, or just engaging in marketing hyperbole.
