It looks like the #PS4NoParity campaign got their wish, although perhaps not in the way they wanted, as Digital Foundry have found Assassin’s Creed Unity has a higher frame rate on Xbox One compared to PlayStation 4.
Assassin’s Creed Unity falls short of the performance standard set by last year’s Black Flag, featuring considerably more variable frame-rates under load on both consoles. Given the immense graphical upgrade on offer, this isn’t so surprising, but what comes as a bit of a shock is that the Xbox One version frequently out-performs the PS4 game in more detail-rich areas, such as locations littered with NPCs in the packed Parisian streets.
The PS4 outshines its competitor during cut scenes but Digital Foundry admit that the Xbox One’s graphical advantage remains “something of a mystery” as the PS4 should be at least matching its performance.
“We may simply be looking at a game where the developers ran out of time – there’s certainly the sense that both console versions of the game aren’t running at their best,” they muse.
Source: Digital Foundry
dizwod
Disgraceful.
Was already delayed by 2 weeks wasnt it? surely it should be polished already with no issues at all?
Youles
“developers ran out of time”.
I hate this, there should never be a point at which they release a game at a particular date, regardless of where it’s at. It should be released when (properly) finished, if need be delay it. Imagine if a meal was served undercooked or a new car was sold to you not finished, just because they “ran out of time”. Not good enough.
I realise this is just speculation, but often seems the case with large patches for games being released soon after release.
Starman
Sounds like the xboxone’s superior cpu is giving it some rare victories.
Erroneus
They could have used the PS4′ faster and more powerful GPO for offloading some of the CPU’s tasks, but looks like they ran out of time.
This is properly my last AC game, the series seems dead to me and Ubisoft is more about pushing one out each year then quality.
Starman
I expect after a few months of patches it will resemble the game its supposed to be. I agree the series has become stale, I only borrowed AC3 & gave AC4 a miss. Rogue’s story interests me though so I may get that sometime.
beeje13
Hate to play devil’s advocate, again, but ‘superior cpu’ is still up in the air. Even if the clockspeed of the PS4 CPU is indeed lower, a verified NeoGaf developer said:’You can get more out of the PS4 CPU compared to the X1′.
Starman
I’d heard the xboxone cpu can do 48 jiggaflops (possibly not the correct term) vs the PS4’s 16, though some of the xbox’s is for multitasking stuff.
I wary of trusting anything from neogaf, last year a verified mod claimed the PS4 was definitely launching in October & the xboxone in December.
Stefan L
Sounds to me, as it reads in DF’s fuller conclusions, that they really are CPU limited, and since the XBO CPU is clocked higher than the PS4, that leads to marginally better and more stable frame rates. It’s still not entirely clear why the PS4’s stuck on 900p though.
While I admire their attempts to really push the boat out in populating the city and detail, it definitely feels like this needed them to make cuts to fit the consoles. Scale down the characters on screen, the amount of debris, etc. to shore up that frame rate.
camdaz
Couldn’t agree more, a frame rate as low as 18fps would be terrible for a PS3 game.
bunimomike
Sadly, fella, isn’t this the title where they wanted zero fuss with all of the debates, etc. It absolutely smacks of the devs not optimising the PS4 version much as they were dealing with the weaker hardware of the Xbox One. The lowest common denominator has struck hard this time. :-\
Kennykazey
With you on that one.
Could be that the engine favours DirectX slightly too.
beeje13
Favours DirectX? PC players would have something to say about that I bet!
dave87fez
As long as it looks great and plays great, I’m not too fussed. I’m not going to sit there thinking, “what a great mission, wish I’d had those extra 30fps though”
Nate
The issue with this game is that it often doesn’t play great, according to reviews. This isn’t a 30fps vs 60fps argument like usual, it is a 30fps vs crawling along like a drunken toddler issue.
As others have suggested, the game seems to have been rushed out, poorly optimised with multiple game breaking bugs.
psychobudgie
You’ll wish you had those extra 30fps when it chugs along at 15fps as I saw in one video yesterday.
Eldur
Poor frame rate is a much bigger issue for me than resolution. I find it far more noticable when a game drops sub-20fps and this drop has a far bigger impact on gameplay than whether the game is rendered at 900p or not.
This is especially true of a game that relies on quick reaction to on-screen events such as Assassin’s Creed.
MrYd
While there might be a difference between the 2, it’s hardly noticeable in that video. Apart from the big number telling you the frame rate, it doesn’t look like anything you’d notice while playing the game.
What I did notice was that it’s obviously 2 different people playing it for the 2 versions. Whoever’s playing the PS4 version is all over the place. Camera wobbling about like a very wobbly thing. Could that explain the difference in frame rate?
And if the PS4 has an advantage in cut scenes, that’s a big bonus. That’s where you really notice any drop in frame rate, when you’re concentrating more on just what you see, rather than doing other things at the same time (like playing the game).
Looks like neither version is the complete disaster some people are making it out to be, and neither has a real advantage worth worrying about (although Digital Foundry would obviously prefer it if everyone thought it was a win for the XBone)
djdustb
I am with you on this one. I actually watched that video and felt better about the game. I fell for all ranting and hyperbole about the game. This may make it back on my list yet. Maybe when there is a patch for some of the glitches but the frame rate certainly does not look to be an issue.
Foxhound_Solid
Unless they crank it up to 11 on PS4 with a hefty update I’m not buying this.
Pixel_nme
The early part of the video shows the PS4 dropping a tiny bit more,there are times in that video though where the PS4 sits at 30 frames while the Xbox drops frames and at the very end the PS4 actually hits 31.8 frames,either way it doesn’t look unplayable to me but who’s the guy dressed up as a woman in the bottom right corner of the still of the video.
Eldaveo
A knock on effect for being an annualised series I guess. Clearly should have been delayed but the need to release a new AC game every year meant they pushed it out anyway.
I looked past WatchDogs’ shiteness and them ruining the Ghost Recon/Splinter Cell series but I think I am finally done with Ubisoft. They’ve become too big and its made them another EA/Activision.
jayjay119
Ordinarily I’d agree but Unity has been in development since just after AC3 released with, I’m guessing, a smaller team working on 4 and Rogue. No excuse really.
jayjay119
I don’t know whether it’s just this section where the PS4 section seems to run noticeably sub parr to the xbone version but as someone pointed out the two games suffer in different parts; the xbone version running higher at parts while suffering in places the PS4 is excelling in. I think this really is a case of poor optimisation in the engine rather than any issues with the console. What is interesting to see is, at the moment, Metacritic is scoring 80 for the PS4 version and only 76 for the xbone version; even IGN rated the PS4 version better by 2 points and that is saying something for me personally. Perhaps the problems are less abundant later or or one seemingly has and overall better feel to it than the other one. One thing is clear, however. None of the 3 versions is anywhere near good enough.
Starman
Nearly every multiplat scores a little higher on PS4 for whatever reason.
beeje13
Must be that the Xbox only magazines and websites have a harsher scoring policy. I can’t explain the difference in IGN scores though.