14 DAY TRIAL // Digital Extremes, the developer behind the Warframe free-to-play action shooter, was delighted with the PlayStation 4's PC-like architecture and its power, as this meant that the game was playable on the next-gen console in just three months.
Warframe was released in open beta on the PC some time ago, and developer Digital Extremes surprised quite a lot of people when it confirmed that the online free-to-play title was coming to the PlayStation 4 as well, and that it would be an almost identical experience, capable of cross-platform cooperative play.
According to Digital Extremes, the offer to bring the game to the PS4 was made by Sony some time ago and, in just three months, the game was playable on the next-gen device.
“They approached us actually, I guess it’s coming up to about four months ago,” the studio’s Creative Director, Steve Sinclair, told VG247.
“We were in our open beta and rocking the Steam charts there, and Sony got in contact with James, who’s the owner of the company and said, ‘Hey what would you think about bringing Warframe over to our next gen console?’”
“We had, probably, a 30-second conversation about if we should do it. [Sony] squeezed themselves to send us as many dev kits as possible and three months later we were on the [E3] show floor at PlayStation 4 showing Warframe playable.”
According to Sinclair, the PlayStation 4's power and its PC-like architecture made bringing the game to the console quite easy and hassle-free.
“Warframe supported 64-bit and DirectX 11 for a long time, and there’s a lot of commonality in that sort of architecture with what they’re doing on PS4. They’ve got a lot of cores on there, so, I was very surprised how fast we got up and running – I think Sony was as well.”
“In three months’ time, that’s a testament to how developer-friendly this version of PlayStation is. It’s absolutely awesome. What surprised me most is how [great] the GPU is – the graphics are super, super high-end.”
Warframe is one of the many free-to-play online games that will be launched for the PlayStation 4 and won't require a PlayStation Plus subscription to play online, like regular games.