The trend of differentiating between the PS4 and Xbox One continues with Watch Dogs it seems. As was the case with several games released for the new Microsoft and Sony consoles over the last few months, it seems there will be some differences between how Watch Dogs will look and run on the Playstation 4 and on the Xbox One. It has been confirmed that Watch Dogs will run at 1080p on the PS4, but not so much on the Xbox One. The FPS count hasn’t been specified yet however, so we’re unsure if we’ll be seeing a 30 FPS performance or a 60 FPS on either consoles.
“The first thing I want to make clear is that, at its core, it’s the same experience on current-gen and next-gen consoles. You get the same gameplay out of it” said Lars Bonde, animation lead on Watch Dogs, in an interview given to PC Games. Of course, this is a pretty obvious statement, seeing as gameplay doesn’t go hand-in-hand with graphical fidelity. Does this mean gamers of both consoles are equal? Not quite. It’s not really an acceptable excuse to point at the gameplay elements, deviating the discussion from the more pressing concern: Why isn’t Watch Dogs running and looking the same on both consoles?
Of course there are nuances to it. We are utilizing Xbox One to its full capabilities and the same with PS4, of course, so I know that, as far as to my knowledge, on PS4 it will run in full HD.” Bonde continued, a statement which raises concern. We’ve seen similar situations, and the omission of details about the Xbox One’s resolution and performance doesn’t bode well. From what we’ve seen so far, our fears seem to be well founded. Expect up-scaling in the case of the Xbox One. This is not guaranteed to happen, and there’s a chance that we’ll see 1080p in Watch Dogs on the Xbox One too, but you shouldn’t get your hopes up. Earlier reports this year suggested this outcome, and the dodgy answers seem to confirm them.
We won’t have to wait much longer to find out though. Watch Dogs will be releasing on the 27th of May for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4 and PC. The PC version will also require UPlay for access, even if the game is picked up from Steam. A Wii U version is also in the works, but will come at a later time. Do you think a lower resolution will affect the experience on the Xbox One?