The potency of next-gen hardware has often seemed overstated. Can 8-core CPUs with integrated graphics processing really compete with the raw horsepower of modern PCs? As shocking as it might be the answer appears to be yes.
Dualshockers asked director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz how well The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will run on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as opposed to high-end PCs to which he replied:
We’re aiming to deliver the same experience on all the platforms – we’re developing The Witcher 3 on next gen platforms so visual cutbacks will not be the case here. Eyecandy for everyone!
Truthfully, this isn’t an isolated incident. Many developers at E3 shared similar responses to such questions. For example, Sony Online Entertainment has found that it’s easier to push graphics farther on the PS4 than it is on PC resulting in PlanetSide 2 arguably looking better on PS4 than PC. This isn’t a result of power alone, though. Optimization is just as important as processing power and having one set of specs to work with instead of thousands of combinations is decidedly more simple.
Furthermore, this is The Witcher 3 we’re talking about. It was arguably the best-looking game shown at E3, and its predecessor has remained one of the most gorgeous RPGs in history. Being able to run such a game at its best on $400/$500 hardware is something every gamer should be excited about.
