I'm sure the game can hit 60 when you stare at an empty sky. 

Console gamers really need to stop worrying about 60fps for ambitious or CPU heavy games. Essentially anything that isn't a competitive online game or fast paced hack & slash is subject to a 30fps limit as developers begin to push the hardware. We'll get more 60fps experiences than most generations but definitely expect any massive open world/detailed games to be 30fps, as well anything that looks graphically "next-gen"

I really miss the days where most online were non the wiser about frame rate. They'd jump from 60fps call of duty, to 30fps Gears and not have a single complaint.  There was so many 60fps experiences on the PS2 but no one complained about the 30fps experiences, they just took the games for what they were and enjoyed them as intended. if the frame rate was aweful that'd be another point all together. But in modern day console gamers will act like 60fps is suddenly a new console feature that they've never experienced before and that they can't go back from, when in reality they were constantly jumping between the 2 based on what game they were playing. 

Probably CPU bound because of the ambition of the design. Fallout 4 felt great, hopefully this does too.

In fairness, part of the new sensitivity to different frame rates is the advancements in TV technology, mostly low persistence. 30fps on a 120hz low persistence panel tends to look a lot more like a slide show than 30fps on a CRT tv/monitor, or early 60hz LCD tv. Before progressive scan, 60fps could actually look worse in fast motion than 30fps. Interlacing breaking the image apart.

Also the higher the resolution and bigger the display, the more the 'steps' become visible. On a small screen it doesn't matter that much, on a 4K 65" screen you will see the 'steps' a lot more clearly. For 24fps "The rule of thumb is to pan no faster than a full image width every seven seconds, otherwise judder will become too detrimental." That's a pretty slow turn rate! But necessary for cinema where the screen is wall to wall.

I never had issues playing 30fps games on a 1080p projector, actually still preferred it over 60fps. 60fps doesn't take the judder away, turn fast and you still get lots of 'double images'. The steps are smaller yet there are twice as many at 60fps vs 30fps. Ideally everything only moves 1 pixel between frames, yet that means the frame rate of each object depends on its speed across the screen. Maybe one day that will be possible, a Dolby Atmos equivalent for graphics. For now we're still stuck to one frame at a time (with some things actually running at half or quarter frame rate)

Yeah, on a CRT screen, the last frame will already have faded by the time the next one is drawn in, so you don't notice tearing anywhere as much and your brain fills the gap on lower framerates are being displayed.

Otherwise, things will look rough especially in OLED screens and other high-framerate displays (if you turn motion blur off). Like, getting actively worse as the pixel response gets faster on modern screens, so it's not a matter of people becoming pickier about stuff as time goes by.

An alternative that is a bit like CRT here is going for a plasma. Perfect judderless motion at any framerate. Too bad these go only up to 1080p.

Why is this such a big deal? Bloodborne is locked at 30 FPS and it's one of the best games ever made. Yeah, having 60 is nice, but it's really not needed.

THAT SAID, I don't understand how 'the strongest console on the market' can't do better.

It's a big deal for many cause a lower frame rate will heavily detract from the experience for them. And that's outdated marketing talk from three years ago. The CPU's in these consoles while better than the genuinely shite ones the gen 8 consoles had still aren't that capable so a game like Starfield is gonna be tough to run well. There's only so much mid-range hardware from 2020 can do.

BB has some of the worst frame pacing I have ever seen in a game and made it unplayable for me. Because I was getting a literal migraine from it. Not just a me thing either as people with hacked PS4's fixed it but From/Sony never did https://www.eurogamer.net/digitalfoundry-2022-from-software-30fps-frame-pacing-fixed-by-hackers

Just saw this piece in a Redfall interview

"There’s nothing that’s more difficult for me than disappointing the Xbox community,” says Spencer when asked about his reaction to the game's poor reception. “...just to kind of watch the community lose confidence, be disappointed, I’m disappointed, I’m upset with myself…”

Spencer continues by touching on the criticism of Redfall launching at 30 frames per second and how it goes against Microsoft’s original claim of first-party Xbox Series X/S titles always running at 60 FPS. “That was kind of our punch in the chin, rightfully, a couple of weeks ago,” he says before later assuring Arkane is on track towards delivering its previously promised 60 FPS performance mode. 

Starfield is first party now is it not? Another apology incoming?


Ehh if it runs at a locked 30fps without judder, steady frame pacing at release, that would already be a small miracle for a Bethesda title. But I'll wait for 2024 anyway, my beta testing days of Bethesda titles are over. I'll pick up a 2nd hand copy in Januari or so.

Frame times jumping all over the shop with an inconsistent 60fps results in a poor experience, 30fps is the better option.
And the reason why they don't do 40fps, is that the majority of TV's on the market are still 60hz.

Once console gamers finally catch up to the amazing-value that variable refresh rates brings to the table, then this issue will be behind us I think, maybe next gen?
Current consoles can leverage it, but the displays haven't caught up en-masse' sadly.

People need to keep in mind that the Series X only has:

- 7 CPU cores reserved for gaming, 1 core/2 threads is for the OS and background tasks.
These only run at a max 3.8GHZ and are using the outdated Zen2 core.
Modern Zen chips will be upwards of 100% faster.

- 13.5GB of Ram for reserved for gaming. - OS takes 2.5GB.
Considering how DRAM intensive games are at the moment, you can only take it so far.

- Mid-Range Radeon 6700XT equivalent GPU with 560GB/s of bandwidth.
With RT, the capabilities of these chips tend to tank.

Add the desire to push 4k and the desire to push Ray Tracing, something will need to give, consoles run with fixed hardware, so developers need to start giving up resolution/performance to achieve targets.
Only way around it is with a mid-generation refresh console.

Err, those 2 statements contradict each other. VRR doesn't solve frame times jumping all over the shop.

It will be a long time before 40fps becomes a standard option. HDMI 2.1 120hz tvs are still niche. The top selling 4K HDR tvs 2023 models, 60hz panels. Plus I'm still waiting for HDR to become standard (at least all new tvs have that now)

Anyway not offering 40fps because the majority is still 60hz doesn't really hold any ground when VRR is offered. Or are 120hz modes more rare again compared to VRR? And why no 50fps option for PAL territories! HDMI 2.0 supports 4K at 50hz as well.