The Annual Giant Bomb E3 interview with Phil Spencer, 2018 Edition

this is what he was talking about. He talks about the work they are doing with tv companies to support freesync and I will bet you they want the next xbox and games to fully take advantage of it. A 30-60fps option with freesync works great. my 4k monitor does that and I really don't notice any drops in frame rate because of it.

 

No where in the interview does Phil Spencer talk about "mandating" 60Hz. He says they're looking at the cpu/gpu balance to do more to support 60Hz+. That's it. We all know 60Hz would never be a rule set in stone, so it's a dumb talking point.

 

Except they don't. Does Forza sell worse than GT because it's 60 Hz versus 30 Hz? Graphics were never the reason Forza sold worse than GT. Would a 30 Hz Forza sell worse than a 60 Hz forza? I'd contend that it absolutely would.

Did a 60 Hz COD sell worse than a 30 Hz Battlefield? I don't think it ever has. Has a 60 Hz Battlefield sold worse than a 30 Hz Battlefield? I don't think that's happened either.

Did Monster Hunter world offering a performance mode (it doesn't come close to 60, but then Capcom doesn't have a lot of experience with variable settings on console) impact it's sales or graphics? I'd say no to both of those.

Does God of War (2018) suffer greatly WRT graphics and sales due to offering a performance mode?

The following is a personal anecdote so take it with a grain of salt as always. I've seen more people (streamers and RL) play MHW and GOW (2018) in performance mode than quality mode. Whether those titles hit 60 Hz or not is a bit irrelevant, it shows (to me) that a lot of peopl want higher than 30 Hz on console and when given the option opt for that option with higher performance.

Yes, it's still a statistical minority of people playing on performance mode as you need a PS4-P, but many people that can't afford a PS4-P and are stuck on a PS4 also wish they could play at higher than 30 Hz.

Regards,
SB

 

I think you'd probably have seen more 60 Hz games this gen if the cpu wasn't so weak. Dice, Epic and others went to great lengths to make their games run at 60 fps.

 

This is a bad argument... how would have been GTA5 if it aimed 60fps on PS3/360 ?

Dsoup is right, some games are simly too complex to run at 60fps without some massive downgrades in graphics and gameplay mechanics.

These are particular examples. I can easily find some examples that say otherwise. For example, Forza Horizon seem to becoming a more popular franchise than Forza.

Developers choose the framerate that fit their project the best. As simple as that.

60fps is not a magic button for sales, same for 30fps...

 

To every question you pose the answer is the same. Nobody knows how the mass market would have reacted if different choices had been made in certain titles. The number of 30fps and sub-30fps games that sell gangbusters on console demonstrate a sizeable market for people who accept 30fps performance. Are there console answer who only buy 60fps? Probably but it's unlikely a big market because they'd have to discount, what around 97-98% ?, of all console games released.

 

Yes, and that's why this debate continues. Many of us contend that many 30 FPS titles would sell more if they were 60 FPS or offered an option for 60 FPS. And of course, the converse is that people who disagree will contend that any gains would be insignificant.

And the merry go round goes round and round.

When 60 FPG Battlefield games sell better than their previous 30 FPS version, one side will point and say that 60 FPS was a major contributor. The other side will contend that it's just because it's a newer title.

If Forza Horizon 4 ends up selling better now that they also offer 60 FPS, many us will point to that as one of the main reasons for better sales. But the other side will contend that it's just because it's a newer version.

Then again, newer versions don't always sell better than older versions of the game, so even that would end up being fuel for both sides.

It's a good thing I enjoy these discussions.

Regards,
SB

 

Newer version with larger hardware sales base while catering to the UK, a market where they are historically weaker.

 

Xbox is historically strong in the UK? PlayStation may be more prevalent but the UK is a huge market, probably second to the US. Or have I got the wrong end of the stick?

 

You do.

What I said is "while catering to the UK, a market where they are historically weaker", meaning where Microsoft is historically weaker. Your mind likely misread Sony/PlayStation for they instead of Microsoft. I never mentioned nor referred to Sony at all.

The setting for Forza Horizon 4 is the UK. This may allow for Microsoft to pick up a few more sales from the UK market if for no reason other than people wanting to race around their own country area.

Microsoft is likely to get strong sales in the US regardless of the game's setting because MS is stronger in the US market. They're likely to sell more FH4 than FH3 because the install base of Xbox is larger in 2018 than it was 2016.