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SvennoJ on 05 June 2021
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Kyuu said:

An underpowered lowest common denominator hurts the fidelity of the game even on higher end hardware. An excellent case study on this is Dragon Quest XI, which had 3 main versions:

1. 3DS version
2. PS4 variants
3. Switch variants

The Switch version was based on PS4's, but they extensively redesigned and recoded a lot of aspects because downscaling it to Switch was problematic due to compatibility issues and whatnot. The interesting part is that this version (DQXIS) was later ported to PS4/X1/PC for the added content which couldn't be patched into the original game (PS4 variants), and the result was a very noticeable downgrade from the original PS4 version! Engine scalability isn't a magic wand. Had the Switch been the lead platform for DQXI and gotten the game simultaneously with PS4, we wouldn't have been graced with the visually superior PS4 variants without Square Enix being extra generous.

Not every publisher is nice, capable, or stupid enough to remake a game TWICE within a relatively short period of time. Multiplatform games' graphics are typically decided by the lowest common denominator. Apart from performance and resolution gains, the extra niceties higher end hardware provides to this set of games aren't much to write home about.

Game engines continue to improve over the generations, but beyond a certain gap in specs, scalability cannot efficiently take advantage of the entire hardware spectrum in meaningful ways. It's not even enough to deal with purely visual aspects, let alone mechanical and physics based elements.

If you're into CrossGen games like Phil "held back is a meme" Spencer, then more power to you. But a lot of us want to be blown away as early and frequently as possible by less compromised experiences. The more the merrier.

No need to look far, it's noticed after every patch in FS2020. The game keeps getting downgrades, supposedly to get it running on Series S/X. It does run more stable now, slightly higher avg fps and a bit more conservative in memory management. However draw distance has suffered (and can't be modded back), terrain rendering has gotten worse (more simplified, more pop in, more visible transitions) night lighting has suffered and looks very arcady now, turbulence modeling has been dialed back, landing in cross winds made easier (odd sticky tires introduced) an clouds appear more pixelated at dawn and dusk or half covering the sun. Meanwhile many issues that have been there since day one haven't been fixed yet.

However FS2020 was first made on high end PCs, and now needs to be scaled down to run on console as well. GT7 uses the GT Sport engine with the assets already made future proof for ps5. I bet God Of War started development on ps4 as well with the God of War engine. It's easier to add enhancements for a more powerful version than to have to scale it down. GT Sport uses baked lighting, perhaps GT7 on ps5 can do it real time. Same for God of War, RT shadows instead of baked shadows and reflections. Perhaps remove the loading corridors on ps5 and other things to disguise loading times.

Engine scale-ability is indeed not magic, see CP2077. But since these games are coming from ps4 code base, they can only go up. Would it be nice to have GT7 and Ragnorak made from the ground up for ps5? Sure, but then they won't be out until 2024. GT Sport came out in a bare bones state in 2017, 4 years after the ps4 (and GT6) launched. New engine, made to make full use of the new gen, takes a lot of time to create. Santa Monica studios could maybe have started to work on a ps5 engine right after God of War released. However that would be working with lots of unknowns until the ps5 was finalized, then a 2 year pandemic slowing everything down, earliest possible release 2023, likely still 2024.

New stuff is coming, we just haven't invented time travel yet so studios can start working with the final specs and dev kits 4 years before launch :p