Does scalability produce poorer results than targeting a certain level of performance?

[adriane23]

It's always better to work with specific hardware/software specs from a development perspective. That's why most console games perform better than PC games, and why exclusives perform better than most multiplat games.

From a business perspective, scalability is necessary. Most people don't have high end PCs and most people aren't early console adopters, so developing a game engine that can adapt to multiple set ups is generally a smart approach.