14 DAY TRIAL // Developer Bungie promised to get the Xbox One version of Destiny running at 1080p in time for launch, after revealing that the beta edition was only running at 900p, and the studio has delivered on the promise.
Many were concerned that the bump in resolution would translate into poor performance for the futuristic first-person shooter, and a new video by graphics analysis team Digital Foundry does away with the worries, showing that the retail version running at 1080p on the Xbox One comes at no framerate penalty.
We've already seen that the Xbox One can achieve 1080p in action-packed video games, with Blizzard Entertainment's action role-playing game Diablo 3: Ultimate Evil Edition getting a day-one patch to bump it from 900p, with little impact on overall performance.
The beta
During Destiny's beta test back in July, the game was running at 1080p on the PlayStation 4, and at 900p resolution on Microsoft's next-gen home console.
This, of course, fueled the ever-burning fire of the console wars, with many stating that the PlayStation 4's slightly more powerful hardware would, no doubt, translate into a much better experience in the final edition of the sci-fi shooter.
"We basically got together with Microsoft, and got a bunch of engineers here optimising and taking advantage of the system [Kinect] reserve - basically the extra GPU time that Microsoft gave us, and got it up to 1080p... the beta will run at 900p, so it's a little less. But rest assured by the time we ship we'll have it at 1080," Chris Tchou, a graphics engineer at Bungie, revealed before the launch of the beta.
The final retail build
Now, the famed developer of the Halo series has made good on its promise, and Destiny runs on the Xbox One at 1080p resolution and 30 frames per second, just as it does on Sony's newest computer entertainment system, the PlayStation 4.
"Overall, the Xbox One version runs identically to its already impressive beta build, albeit with an added full-screen distortion effect, refreshed HUD design, and a crisp 1080p viewing window. With no performance penalty or pared-back visual settings in sight, first impressions suggest a release that very closely matches its PlayStation 4 counterpart in terms of both looks and performance," the Digital Foundry team concludes.
Destiny came out on September 9 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 home consoles, selling over $500 / €387 million worth of stock on its first day, and showing the potential to become publisher Activision's third billion-dollar franchise, joining Call of Duty and Skylanders.
