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EA, Ubisoft & Take-Two (2K/Rockstar) weigh in on Xbox Scorpio, PS4 Neo (they love it)

N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
GamesIndustry.biz interviewed executives from EA, Ubisoft, and Take-Two on their thoughts about the Xbox Scorpio, PlayStation Neo, and iterative consoles in general.

You probably won't be shocked to learn they love the idea, since they're presumably a large part of why this is happening.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...playstation-neo-incredibly-positive-evolution

EA (Laura Miele, Global Publishing Chief):

GamesIndustry said:
"I perceive it as upgrades to the hardware that will actually extend the cycle," she told me. "I actually see it more as an incredibly positive evolution of the business strategy for players and for our industry and definitely for EA. The idea that we would potentially not have an end of cycle and a beginning of cycle I think is a positive place for our industry to be and for all of the commercial partners as well as players.

"I have an 11-year-old son who plays a lot of games. We changed consoles and there are games and game communities that he has to leave behind and go to a different one. So he plays on multiple platforms depending on what friends he's playing with and which game he's going to play. So the idea that you have a more streamlined thoroughfare transition I think is a big win... things like backwards compatibility and the evolution," she continued.

"So it's not my perception that the hardware manufacturers are going to be forcing upgrades. I really see that they're trying to hold on and bring players along. If players want to upgrade, they can. There will be benefit to that. But it's not going to be punitive if they hold on to the older hardware... So we're thrilled with these announcements. We're thrilled with the evolution. We're thrilled with what Sony's doing, what Microsoft's doing and we think it's phenomenal. I think that is good for players. It'll be great for us as a publisher about how they're treating it."
Click to expand...

Ubisoft (Alain Corre, Head of EMEA):

Ubisoft's head of EMEA Alain Corre is a fan of the faster upgrade approach as well. "The beautiful thing is it will not split the communities. And I think it's important that when you've been playing a game for a lot of years and invested a lot of time that you can carry on without having to start over completely again. I think with the evolution of technology it's better than what we had to do before, doing a game for next-gen and a different game from scratch for the former hardware. Now we can take the best of the next console but still have super good quality for the current console, without breaking the community up. We are quite big fans of this approach," he said.

"Each time there's a new machine with more memory then our creators are able to bring something new and fresh and innovate, and that's exciting for our fans who always want to be surprised. So the fact that Microsoft announced that they want to move forward to push the boundaries of technology again is fantastic news. Our creators want to go to the limit of technology to make the best games they can... so the games will be better in the years to come which is fantastic for this industry. And at Ubisoft, it's also in our DNA to be [supportive] early on with new technology. We like taking some risks in that respect... We believe in new technology and breaking the frontiers and potentially attracting new fans and gamers into our ecosystem and into our brands," Corre continued.
Click to expand...

Take-Two aka 2K/Rockstar (Strauss Zelnick, CEO):

Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick pointed out the continuity in the communities as well. "The ecosystems aren't shifting as much. We essentially have a common development architecture now that's essentially a PC architecture," he said. And if the console market truly is entering an almost smartphone like upgrade curve, "It would be very good for us obviously. To have a landscape...where you put a game out and you don't worry about it," he commented, "the same way that when you make a television show you don't ask yourself 'what monitor is this going to play on?' It could play on a 1964 color television or it could play on a brand-new 4K television, but you're still going to make a good television show.

"So we will for sure get there as an industry. We will get to the point where the hardware becomes a backdrop. And sure, constantly more powerful hardware gives us an opportunity but it would be great to get to a place where we don't have a sine curve anymore, and I do see the sine curve flattening but I'm not sure I agree it's going away yet... That doesn't change any of our activities; we still have to make the very best products in the market and we have to push technology to its absolute limit to do so."
Click to expand...
 
F

faint.

Member
I think we should care more about how developers feel about this. It's one thing for a CEO to say their teams love it, but it's another for a developer to say it themselves.
 
H

Hard

Banned
Of course publishers love it.

New consoles = New people buying consoles = New potential customers to buy their games
 
M

Massa

Member
A new generation only disrupts their service games and raises their development costs. If Sony and MS can keep players engaged without that disruption it would be amazing for them.
 
S

ShockingAlberto

Member
Ubisoft were basically clawing their eyes out waiting for a generational refresh before the PS4 and Xbox One, it's not surprising they think this is the bee's knees.

I do wonder if this will create more of a schism between AAA development and, well, not-AAA development, but we shall see.
 
T

tuxfool

Banned
Hard said:
Of course publishers love it.

New consoles = New people buying consoles = New potential customers to buy their games
Click to expand...

No. What they love is the lack of boom and bust cycle between generations. They don't necessarily care about new technology, what they care about is having a large client base.
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
faint. said:
I think we should care more about how developers feel about this. It's one thing for a CEO to say their teams love it, but it's another for a developer to say it themselves.
Click to expand...

I can grab some more later but:

repiscorpiok5slg.png


tiagoscorpioe4saz.png
 
A

akidnamededdy

Banned
Of course they love it, now they can sell twice as many remasters as they already do. Can't wait for Uncharted 4K and Battlefield 1 Scorpio Edition.
 
G

Gitaroo

Member
Hope they can get Battlefield 1 and every frostbite engine running at 1080p on the neo with max detail, or close to it.
 
U

UrbanRats

Member
"the same way that when you make a television show you don't ask yourself 'what monitor is this going to play on?' It could play on a 1964 color television or it could play on a brand-new 4K television, but you're still going to make a good television show.
Click to expand...
The tv doesn't have to run the TV show in real time.
Infact, an old VHS player could not play a modern bluray.

That'd be a more apt comparison (and even then, not entirely poignant), because 5 years from now, you may want to consider the idea of dropping XboxOne and PS4 compatibility, unless you want to be forever held back.
Just look at crossgen titles.

Even on PC, at some point some HW configurations just have to be left behind.
 
D

DieH@rd

Banned
I also see this as a big positive for users. They will now have the chance to upgrade their hw while not breaking lenght of a console gen.

As for devs, I have almost no symphaty for their increased workflow. They are in this industry for money, and if they want to continue earning big bucks they need to adapt. Some will just quickly port their gen8 games, some will add better assets, and in the end market will decide what sells best.
 
Z

zelas

Member
Hard said:
Of course publishers love it.

New consoles = New people buying consoles = New potential customers to buy their games
Click to expand...
Publishers would rather put out games in an ecosystem that only increases in numbers, not one that discourages them from putting out as many games as they can because the install base is too small. The boom bust cycle is completely disruptive and unnecessary in this day and age.

Besides the traditional console cycle recycles a lot of the same users so the potential for growth from new hardware is not as big as you make it out to be. Certainly not comparable to the potential revenue they could be reaping in a world where all 3 had made this transition before the wii era casuals abandoned traditional gaming completely.
 
M

mrklaw

MrArseFace
Hard said:
Of course publishers love it.

New consoles = New people buying consoles = New potential customers to buy their games
Click to expand...

thats one way of looking at it.

The other way is that it reduces the huge risk of generational change. By having the same ecosystem move with consumers, by having the (likely) same OS across machines, and the same core architecture, it massively reduces the risk. No more 'where are my PS4 games' because publishers were worried nobody wanted consoles, no more wasted development time on cross-gen games.
 
M

Memory

Member
They would never go on record to say they hate it anyway since it would sour their future business. Its in their interests to hype these consoles up.
 
D

DieH@rd

Banned
akidnamededdy said:
Of course they love it, now they can sell twice as many remasters as they already do. Can't wait for Uncharted 4K and Battlefield 1 Scorpio Edition.
Click to expand...

We already know that Sony forbids the sale of ps4>neo remasters. All games must be released for basic PS4, and visual upgrades cannot be offered as "paid premium". It is on devs to decide what level of vusual upgrades they want to offer (some things like lowering of framerate and going below 1080p are forbidden), but competition will work wonders after a while.
 
P

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
Aostia said:
I wonder why they can talk about Neo and not Nx (lol)
Click to expand...

Only 12 posts before somebody brought up NX in a thread that had nothing to do with it. Better than the last Neo/Scorpio thread, I guess.

As for the OP, this isn't surprising. Publishers have wanted this for awhile. I'm curious to the effect it will have on the consumer, though. Is the current contracting market large enough for these iterations? Will it look good now but take away from the sales of the PS5/XB2?
 
M

Montresor

Member
akidnamededdy said:
Of course they love it, now they can sell twice as many remasters as they already do. Can't wait for Uncharted 4K and Battlefield 1 Scorpio Edition.
Click to expand...

There will no such thing as Scorpio remasters or Neo remasters.

Sentence #1: All PS4 games will work on Neo and all Neo games will work on PS4.

Sentence #2: All XB1 games will work on Scorpio and all Scorpio games will work on XB1.

Literally the only possible exception would be virtual reality and XB1 - and that's only because of the unfortunate low power of XB1. We'll see what Microsoft does regarding virtual reality. But go ahead and keep the above two sentences in memory - this is how Scorpio and Neo will work. There wiill be no Scorpio/Neo remasters...
 
Chittagong

Chittagong

Gold Member
This one trick* will make your console up to 4x more powerful

Developers hate it


*
Buying a new console
 
P

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
Montresor said:
There will no such thing as Scorpio remasters or Neo remasters.

Sentence #1: All PS4 games will work on Neo and all Neo games will work on PS4.

Sentence #2: All XB1 games will work on Scorpio and all Scorpio games will work on XB1.

Literally the only possible exception would be virtual reality and XB1 - and that's only because of the unfortunate low power of XB1. We'll see what Microsoft does regarding virtual reality. But go ahead and keep the above two sentences in memory - this is how Scorpio and Neo will work. There wiill be no Scorpio/Neo remasters...
Click to expand...

4K bluray players play 1080p blurays. That didnt stop them from remastering movies in 4k. Don't be shocked at all when publishers remaster games just to be displayed in 4k.
 
K

KissVibes

Banned
Plinko said:
4K bluray players play 1080p blurays. That didnt stop them from remastering movies in 4k.
Click to expand...

A Ghostbusters Blu-ray can't get patched to have higher resolution Dan Aykroyd forehead. Uncharted 4 or Halo 5 can get an optional download (for free or paid) for better textures and assests.

It isn't cost effective to remaster games that just fucking came out for 4k. Between development costs, advertising, disc printing and getting copies into stores...it doesn't make sense and won't happen.
 
B

Blanquito

Member
Plinko said:
4K bluray players play 1080p blurays. That didnt stop them from remastering movies in 4k. Don't be shocked at all when publishers remaster games just to be displayed in 4k.
Click to expand...

4K bluray players also didn't have gatekeepers (Sony & MS) literally saying "sorry, you cannot release a Scorpio/PS4K exclusive game. We won't allow it." So it's not the same situation.
 
P

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
Blanquito said:
4K bluray players also didn't have gatekeepers (Sony & MS) literally saying "sorry, you cannot release a Scorpio/PS4K exclusive game. We won't allow it." So it's not the same situation.
Click to expand...

But a remaster doesn't need to be "exclusive." Couldn't they easily release a new Uncharted 4 that contains both the original and also a version that is remastered in 4k and market it as such? It would play just as well on both systems. That's what I expect.
 
B

Blanquito

Member
Plinko said:
But a remaster doesn't need to be "exclusive." Couldn't they easily release a new Uncharted 4 that contains both the original and also a version that is remastered in 4k and market it as such? It would play just as well on both systems. That's what I expect.
Click to expand...

Right, but if you already own Uncharted 4 on PS4, then the gatekeepers are mandating that the update be free for you. You do not have to buy that software again. (at least, from what we've heard from EuroGamer on the leaked guidelines)
 
A

akidnamededdy

Banned
Montresor said:
There will no such thing as Scorpio remasters or Neo remasters.

Sentence #1: All PS4 games will work on Neo and all Neo games will work on PS4.

Sentence #2: All XB1 games will work on Scorpio and all Scorpio games will work on XB1.

Literally the only possible exception would be virtual reality and XB1 - and that's only because of the unfortunate low power of XB1. We'll see what Microsoft does regarding virtual reality. But go ahead and keep the above two sentences in memory - this is how Scorpio and Neo will work. There wiill be no Scorpio/Neo remasters...
Click to expand...

My faith in the biggest names in videogame publishing to stick to these flimsy rules and not find some way to weasel around them on some technicality is perhaps not as ironclad as yours.

I get that they're all businesses and they all want money above all else, but we can all see where this is going in the next few years.
 
Papacheeks

Papacheeks

Banned
Would love to see how they plan budgets for studios with 2 new configs on the way. I'm with others people like Ubisoft probably will love it because their engine optimization has been utter shit.

Same with EA's to some extent, but I honestly think it's not frostbite issue as it's more they need to give engineers more time with the engine so we dont get battlefield 4 problems at launch.

I would like to hear from actual developers that already seem to have issues doing 3 platforms. Now they will have to in essence do 5.
 
D

Dragon1893

Member
akidnamededdy said:
Of course they love it, now they can sell twice as many remasters as they already do. Can't wait for Uncharted 4K and Battlefield 1 Scorpio Edition.
Click to expand...

You have no idea what you're talking about.

Anyway, this is the right approach, if you can't afford to upgrade just yet you wont be missing out because all new releases will still be available to you, if you want better visuals/frame-rates you have the option to upgrade and with 100% BC out of the box.
 
F

family_guy

Member
I just hope they establish a cutoff point for supporting older consoles. For example, just drop the original PS4 completely at the 6 year mark, make Neo the new base, and bring out PS5.
 
S

Steejee

Member
Their public opinions on Scorpio and Neo are completely meaningless. There's just about zero chance they would ever say anything that wasn't positive about them publicly. Sony/MS would have to screw up in a way that was simply incomprehensible for them to come out against those boxes.

What would actually be interesting is their behind-closed-doors opinions.
 
D

Dragon1893

Member
family_guy said:
I just hope they establish a cutoff point for supporting older consoles. For example, just drop the original PS4 completely at the 6 year mark, make Neo the new base, and bring out PS5.
Click to expand...

They'll have to raise the baseline eventually, yeah. They will probably drop the vanilla consoles once the third iteration hits.
 
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