DX12 Adoption For Xbox One Is A Risk For Large Scale Production, Cross Support With PS4 Is A Factor

[binary solo]

Zekkyou said:

shikamaru317 said:

There's nothing stopping devs from having a DX12 build of a game for PC and Xbox One, and a separate build for PS4 that uses it's graphics API. Of course there's risk because having a seperate PS4 build adds to a game's budget, but there's also the risk of Xbox One users ignoring your game if you don't support DirectX 12. People want the most out of their console, ignoring that is a mistake imo. AAA devs ultimately can afford seperate PC/Xbox One and PS4 builds, I only see this being an issue for the smaller indie devs, and most indie games don't have good enough graphics to need DX12 on Xbox One anyway.

I doubt there's any real risk of that happening. It's true that people like to see their console being fully utilized (and will moan when it isn't), but developers frequently ignoring the PS4's hardware advantage over the X1 doesn't seem to have had any major effect on game sales. I don't see how DX12 would either. Doubly so since its effect on the X1 is likely to be modest at most.

Yeah, that kind of statement is nothing but FUD. Not using DX12 is not what would hold Xb one back in relation to PC, it's the raw power difference that does that. The only think Xbone owners want is reasonable parity with PS4 versions of games. So provided developers give them that the Xb one gamers will buy the game regardless of the graphics engine that is used. The issue will arise if / when there starts to be a noticable performance gap between PS4 and Xb one for the same game. But the question will be whether switching to DX12 will help with performance parity. MS has gone on record saying the DX12 performance boost was always only ever claimed for PC and that any improvement with Xb one will be relatively minor. If that's the case then why would you adopt a graphics engine that doesn;t give you much more from the Xb one but makes life harder for developing console multiplats?

Are we basically going to see MS force developers to adopt DX12 if they want to release games for W10 PCs? In which case they then force developers to adopt DX12 for Xb one without, apparently, all that much benefit for Xb one itself aside from the fact it makes it harder for a developer to make the game for PS4. So in essence MS is looking to force developers down a path that does not benefit them, because they will lose PS4 revenue, which being the majorly dominant console means they will lose the majority of the potential console revenue? 

Nice move MS, really supportive of developers giving them no choice but to have to forego revenue potential without having to spend a single dollar to buy exclusivity. Don't use DX12 and you miss out on the PC market, use DX12 and miss out on PS4 market, go PS4 exclusive. It's a losing prospect for any developer who isn't getting financial aid from MS or Sony. Hence this is bad for gaming.