The latest leap in console hardware featured a historical aberration, a deviation from the norm in one particular way. Cross-generational game releases were suddenly the main source of game releases from the major third party publishers, with the likes of Battlefield 4, Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag and Call of Duty: Ghosts reaching out to both gamers with old hardware and those who embraced the new.
It’s a move that makes a lot of sense from almost every angle: in catering to both sets of hardware owners, a game can be sold to the largest possible audience; by having the same content across all releases, nobody feels cheated at having got a lesser game; adding an upgrade path between generations lessens the blow of a double dip; and by latching onto the new hardware, reviewers will understandably focus on the prettier and more technically accomplished versions.
But the one area that can suffer is the game itself, as maintaining the same content across vastly disparate hardware means catering to the lowest common denominator in terms of game design while also stretching the development resources further. It’s something that PC gamers have complained about for the last half decade, where their hardware was already outstripping that of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, but the vast majority of game releases were designed for the more popular and more lucrative console market first and foremost.
At its worst, you would see lazy ports of games like Borderlands and Resident Evil 4, which simply were not adapted to keyboard & mouse input, or poorly optimised efforts like GTA IV. More recently, a PC counterpart does tend to get extra work done to try and elevate it from the console release, such as with the addition of TressFX to the PC version of 2013’s Tomb Raider, extra DX11 graphics options in BioShock Infinite or even the much greater scope of Battlefield’s 64-player battles, compared to the PS3 and 360’s 24-man scuffles.
With the current crop of cross-generational releases, it’s Battlefield 4 that manages to stand out as having the greatest shift in gameplay, thanks to using the extra power of the new consoles to bring 60 frames per second and those 64-player battles to consoles for the first time. However, Battlefield’s single player campaign doesn’t manage to broaden the scope in the same way and as with many other releases, like Call of Duty: Ghosts, Lego Marvel Super Heroes and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, the content was the same, but wrapped up in better looking graphics.
Compared to the transition from PS2, Gamecube and Xbox to PS3 and 360, it’s interesting to note that these cross-generational releases with parity in terms of content have seemingly become the norm. Though this did occur back then, publishers more regularly employed the other option of using different developers to create tailored versions of a game or multiple entries in a series.
So you had two versions of Splinter Cell: Double Agent, featuring different levels and a slightly altered plot, while Call of Duty 2: Big Red One was released on the older generation by a Treyarch still very much in Infinity Ward’s shadow. Even Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater: Project 8 had a notable improvement as the PS3 and 360 enjoying a single open world that streamed in as you skated, rather than distinct levels.
Though these examples are hardly held up as classics from the last generation, splitting the workload in such a manner has the key advantage of letting separate development teams work to each console’s strengths. Over the past few years, developers have become very adept at eking out every ounce of potential from the PS3 and 360, but there is only so far that those consoles can go before they will hinder the ambitions of developing for the PS4 and XBO.
When Ubisoft announced Assassin’s Creed Unity for PS4, XBO and PC last week, they effectively confirmed the rumoured Assassin’s Creed Comet by omission, a separate game that would focus on the PS3 and 360. While Comet will supposedly have its own story and place within the franchise, cunningly making it a tempting purchase for the most ardent fans of the series, it’s Unity that has the potential to make the great strides forward for the franchise.
In fact, just by shifting the focal point from the Caribbean to Paris, they will almost certainly lose the much of sailing and piracy gameplay which helped Black Flag capture so many peoples’ imaginations at the end of last year. Just by doing this it points to a confidence that what Unity can deliver through losing those ties to the older hardware will elevate the series, beyond simply adding a graphical sheen, to create a more believable rendition of a city and country in open revolution and explore new gameplay. It makes me genuinely curious to see what it is that Ubisoft have up their sleeves.
This announcement could also mark an important point for Ubisoft and the industry as a whole. The last generation is still there and still a lucrative market to go after, but come the end of 2014 and a large proportion of the core audience, the kind that will eagerly place pre-orders and seek out previews and reviews, will have upgraded to newer hardware or be on the verge of doing so.
It was the right decision to have that initial batch of cross-generational games, with the security of the huge PS3 and 360 market and known hardware backing up the uncertainties of the new consoles’ power and early sales, but just a few months into the new generation and it could already be time to move on.
double-o-dave
Well I’m pretty tired of the Assassins Creed games now but the short Alpha Demo in Paris is looking great, and if the final version looks this good (atmosphere, ambience, lighting, breezes etc) on the PS4 then I reckon I’ll buy it whatever. Black Flag looked good on the PS4 but with the exception of the sea the visuals didn’t look as good as I expected them to.
double-o-dave
Ooh sh*t! I mean’t Black Flag! lol
Stefan L
I got you covered. ;-)
double-o-dave
Cheers dude!
a inferior race
I don’t like when games have entries across different franchises. It just makes me feel like I’m getting the main part of the story without subplots. Didn’t ezios story end on a non home console?
a inferior race
Oops should read consoles instead of franchises.
gazzagb
Ezio’s didn’t, but Altair’s story continued in both Altair’s Chronicles (DS) and Bloodlines (PSP). As I mentioned below, the book, The Secret Crusade, basically tells the whole of Altair’s story including the first game, and the spin offs. It’s written really well and I’d definitely recommend it to any AC fan.
a inferior race
To me that is a flawed system with the exception of the book idea. Publishers should not be expecting people to follow their story across three or four different formats.
gazzagb
Interesting article. As someone who hasn’t (yet) moved to the new-gen, I don’t really want to see different games across different generations. Especially for franchises where the story runs throughout the series, I don’t want to feel I’m missing out on part of the franchise because I haven’t got the right platform.
I did like how Ubisoft allowed me to ‘catch up’ with the story with the series of books, like The Secret Crusade which included the stories of Altair from the two DS and PSP spin offs.
Forrest_01
Yeah, i too am in this camp. Not upgraded to a PS4 as yet & probably won’t do for some time to come yet.
It hasn’t had too much impact yet, but due to this i am going to be missing out on the next in the Arkham Series (as next gen only) & inFamous (although this isn’t too bad, as it’s a different story arc & was always listed as PS4).
I personally feel that if they have started a ‘journey’ of a character on a platform then the games that follow on should appear on the same console, even if they are just a pared down version compared to the next gen bigger brother. The story can still be the same even if advances in gameplay or graphics are not.
Steelhead
Missing out is kind of the wrong way of looking at it really. If you do buy the new console further down the road then there is nothing stopping you finding a cheap copy of the game in question and playing it then, so long as you are willing to wait a while.
Personally I am waiting to buy a PS4 because there have literally been only two games on it so far that I am interested in (Killzone and infamous). Of course I really want to play this game but as my current pile of shame is so huge I am content to wait until both the console and games have come down in price.
gazzagb
Yeah, once the PS4 has a decent library that can justify its £400 price, then I’ll think about getting one and will get started on the backlog!
bunimomike
It’s a fascinating situation with the the hardware, Tef. My friend and I were chatting about what new possibilities something like the PS4 and X1 could bring to the table and there’s no new genres that spring to mind. We’ve had hardware that can handle the likes of GTA for many years and even that isn’t a genre as oppose to a world which can be suitably fleshed out (in 3D) so games can be sewn into it. However, this expansion and growth in scale (both online and offline) means that a few sub-genres will benefit hugely. Outside of that, we’re seeing games that are being finely tuned to the new hardware with the studios deciding on whether they fancy releasing across the generations or not.
Second Son looks lovely and I’m glad they didn’t think of bringing that out on the PS3 as well. However, I do enjoy seeing the likes of Black Flag crossing the generational gap as it means they don’t have to worry about the install base as much and all of us can still enjoy said franchise(s).
Interesting that hardware continues to evolve at a wonderful (and well predicted) rate – although industry bods reckon Moore’s Law will fail soonish – but, ultimately, games development ebbs closer to that real-world immersion that is most definitely a finite goal that will only see logarithmic returns when it comes to fidelity and how believable the virtual world we inhabit is. Diminishing returns and all that. :-)
MOVE
@ Inferior
It ended in a animated short film that was included in the collectors version of AC: Revelations. It was also (naturally) uploaded to youtube.
Adam Garrett
This is a worry for me with MGS: The Phantom Pain, a game not set to come out until at least this time next year yet it is still being made for PS3 and Xbox 360 as well as the newer consoles. While the Fox Engine seems to be doing a good job at scaling up on the more powerful consoles, there was already a mention on Digital Foundry how the older consoles might be holding it back a bit in places (based on Ground Zeroes).
For a series that likes to use every bit of the hardware and try new gameplay ideas, the idea that they will have to focus so much attention on older consoles so far after the release of the new ones does make me wince a bit.