Consoles would benefit at running games 720p instead of 1080p.

[Zekkyou]

Mr Puggsly said:

Zekkyou said:

The Order going for 1920x800 was a genuine design choice (those movie bars). Previously i thought that claim was bullshit, but when they announced they were pushing 4xMSAA they somewhat confirms it as true. 1920 x 800 + 4xMSAA is about the resource equivalent of 1920 x 1080 + standard post processing.

They also extended the horizontal render view to make up for what is lost is the bars. They seem to be doing every they can to nullify the benefit of a lower pixel count

You could argue they did it to get better IQ, but that would be a pretty small gain unless you wanted that odd screen design in the first place.

I repeat, "The Order is 1920x800p for even more polished visuals while maintaining 30 fps"

Hence, they went with a sub-1080p resolution and that gave them resources to apply elsewhere. That's generally why developers make games sub-1080p.

I think you're missing my point. RAD wanted the black bars. We can spend all day debating if that was a worthwhile design choice, but the end result is they wanted them. They were now stuck with a chunk of resources they didn't really need. Simple solution? Replace the traditional post processing AA methods with a actual render method (in this case MSAA).

For comparison, Killzone's 1920x1080/TSSAA would be about the equivalent of The Order's 1920x800/4xMSAA.

Your post implies they cut the resolution purely for additional resources. Normally i'd agree, but on this occasion the trade wouldn't have been even slightly worth it unless the developer themselves WANTED that aspect ratio. Not for the resources, but for the design.