Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft want great visuals and aren't worrying about framerate

Jun 12, 2014 14:17 GMT  ·  By

Massive Entertainment, the developer of the upcoming The Division MMORPG that's set to be published by Ubisoft in 2015, is aiming for a 30fps framerate as it doesn't want to sacrifice the quality of the visuals or destruction mechanics.

The Division was revealed to the world last year through a stunning gameplay demonstration and, at E3 2014 this week, Ubisoft once again held a great demo, showing a new mission and area from the multiplayer action game.

While in terms of visuals, the title has certainly impressed thanks to the quality of the Snowdrop engine, Massive's David Polfeldt has revealed to GameSpot that the great-looking graphics are thanks to the emphasis on a 30fps framerate.

"I think we're shooting for 30fps because it's a trade-off, right? Graphical fidelity and immersion are more important to us than the frame rate," Polfeldt said. "If we go for [60fps], we'll have to make a trade-off on fidelity and other things," he said.

"But because we want to have very, very complex destruction and extremely detailed environments; a complete weather system, full day/night cycle...at some point you have to make up your mind: where do you invest? And for us, it's going to be 30fps."

In terms of resolution, however, Polfeldt said that it hasn't been nailed down.

Bear in mind that the 30fps framerate applies only to PS4 and Xbox One, as the PC edition won't be hindered by such limitations.