PS5 watch out! Xbox Series X hardware is off the chain – Game dev explains how

Xbox Series X won't need "smoke and mirrors" to create jaw-dropping virtual worlds, explains game dev

PS5 Xbox Series X
(Image credit: Microsoft)
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For game developers, working with the limitations of a console is a constant struggle. Developers have managed to fit ‘living’ 3D cities into PlayStation 2 games and eight galaxies into a BBC Micro with Elite, but suffice it to say there were plenty of clever tricks involved to pull off the illusion.

But when it comes round to the next gen of video game consoles, such as the PS5 and Xbox Series X, it looks like this isn't going to be the case – and especially on Microsoft's new console, if the comments of a game dev are to be believed.

That's because one developer has suggested that “smoke and mirrors” won’t be necessary with the Xbox Series X, such is the awesome power of the hardware.

“In most video games things just stop being alive at a certain distance from the player; if they're not on-screen they just cease to exist in the simulation, or some simplified simulation would take over,” Tom Sala, creator of Xbox and PC exclusive The Falconeer told Xbox Wire

“When you wanted a more complex simulation you would have to spend so much of your time optimising the simulation just to make it perform. I think that's something the new generation offers – more complex enemies and ecologies filled with creatures and enemies all exhibiting more interesting behaviours.

“The big advantage I think will be in open-world games, where we can stop using smoke and mirrors to create an illusion for players, and focus on building more simulated worlds.”

It’s not the first time we’ve heard this sentiment. Back in August, Xbox’s head of studio, Matt Booty, stated that “the technology is out of the way” and Microsoft can “just let the stories and the characters that the teams have in mind reach the screen.”

Of course, high powered PCs have always raised the bar for what was possible at any given time, but it would be a brave publisher that decided to build a hugely complex game that could only run on the top hardware. Making games that can be sold to the biggest possible market is just sensible business – and the PS5 and Xbox Series X look set to increase the high-end market share considerably. 

While a recent Steam hardware survey showed that less than 10% of PCs had cards capable of ray tracing, both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X will support the graphically intensive feature out of the box, for example. 

In other words, owners of high-end gaming PCs should be rooting for big sales of the new consoles – something which, if current pre-order chaos is anything to go by, should be a given.