Bethesda’s Pete Hines had a thing or two to say about the PS4 and Xbox One, and also spoke on the issue of cross platform development between the PS4 and Xbox One. He spoke on how despite the PS4 and Xbox One are certainly easier to develop for than the Xbox 360 or PS3, there are still issues.
Hines said, “It’s really not easy, but it’s certainly much easier. I’m not trying to insult Sony or Microsoft, but they’re high-end PCs, the way they’re architectured. Though they’re still in development, they’re not done, they’re much easier to develop for.”
“They don’t all play with each other,” he continued. “PC and Mac play together, but Xbox One is its own thing and PS4 is its own thing. The whole cross-platform thing is just a nightmare.”
He also spoke a little on Microsoft’s Xbox One – “Are we looking forward to developing on Xbox One? Yes. It’s a nice robust machine that allows to do lots of cool stuff and put more cool things in the game.”
It’s an interesting stand point, and something that I was speaking about just yesterday in a video. In terms of architecture, although both machines are similar, there are noticeable differences between the two systems. The PS4 has been said to be easier to develop for than the Xbox One, but it’s still early in the life of both systems.
The Xbox One will no doubt continue to be under heavy scrutiny, as many are curious how its less powerful GPU will affect cross platform titles. It’s possible though, that Hines was speaking about either the difference in memory layout. It’s more probable that some of his insights are also referring to that of the APIs and operating systems within the systems.
Regardless, I’m sure many of us are looking forward to the new Elderscrolls Online!
