14 DAY TRIAL // Rebellion, the developer behind the Sniper series, has shared a bit of feedback about the Xbox One console from Microsoft, blaming the lack of games that run at 1080p and 60fps on its small yet complex eSRAM.
Rebellion is currently working on Sniper Elite 3 for a variety of platforms, including the PS4 and Xbox One, so producer Jean-Baptiste Bolcato has had some time to acquaint himself with the new consoles from Sony and Microsoft.
While talking with GamingBolt, Bolcato confirmed that the PS4 was easier to develop for than the Xbox One largely because of Microsoft's decision to use a small yet confusing 32MB of eSRAM.
"It was clearly a bit more complicated to extract the maximum power from the Xbox One when you’re trying to do that. I think eSRAM is easy to use. The only problem is…Part of the problem is that it’s just a little bit too small to output 1080p within that size. It’s such a small size within there that we can’t do everything in 1080p with that little buffer of super-fast RAM," he said.
"It means you have to do it in chunks or using tricks, tiling it and so on. It’s a bit like the reverse of the PS3. PS3 was harder to program for than the Xbox 360. Now it seems like everything has reversed but it doesn’t mean it’s far less powerful – it’s just a pain to start with. We are on fine ground now but the first few months were hell."
What’s more, he confirmed that the Xbox One would catch up to the PS4 in a certain time and even revealed that faster software development kits were being sent by Microsoft to studios from around the world.
"That’s probably why, well at least on paper, it’s a bit more powerful. But I think the Xbox One is gonna catch up. But definitely there’s this eSRAM. PS4 has 8GB and it’s almost as fast as eSRAM [bandwidth wise] but at the same time you can go a little bit further with it, because you don’t have this slower memory. That’s also why you don’t have that many games running in 1080p, because you have to make it smaller, for what you can fit into the eSRAM with the Xbox One."
Sniper Elite 3 is set to appear this spring on a variety of platforms, including PC, PS4, and Xbox One.