Console gamers should up their standards instead of console warring
So here is something funny that prompted me to write this article. Yesterday, IGN shared its performance video for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. In that video, IGN showcased the game running consistently below 60fps on both PS5 and Xbox Series X. And instead of focusing on this important aspect, most console gamers – and even “tech enthusiasts” – started console warring.
Star Wars Jedi Survivor Performance Review - PS5 vs PC vs Xbox Series X|S
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In the first world area, Coruscant, the PS5 in Performance Mode can even drop to 30fps during some cutscenes. This is abysmal. Again, this should have been the main focus. Because, like it or not, the game is busted ON ALL PLATFORMS. This isn’t a “PC version is busted” situation. Hell, on consoles, the game is rendered at 1152p and then is upscaled via FSR 2.0 (Performance Mode), making it look as blurry as it can get. Ironically, PC gamers can at least remove FSR 2.0 (which doesn’t look good by the way in this title) and render the game at a higher resolution.
Instead, we see numerous people celebrating because the PS5 runs the game slightly better than the Xbox Series X. “Tech enthusiasts” then, for whatever reasons, continue this trend by throwing terminologies, incorrectly, here and there. For instance, some believe that the SSD hardware of the PS5 is the one that benefits Sony’s console in this game. That’s inaccurate. When you’re standing still looking at a wall, the SSD hardware decompressor is doing nothing. The reason PS5 runs better is due to its proprietary graphics/rendering API. And that’s it. From the looks of it, Sony’s API has a lower CPU overhead than the DX12 API (which Xbox Series X uses). This can explain why PS5 runs better than Xbox Series X in CPU-bound scenarios. It’s no magic sauce, no SSD decompression, no SSD I/O. It’s a graphics API that is simply less CPU-hungry.
And then we have the media that for some reason are solely focusing on the PC version. To be clear, I’m not talking about PC-focused gaming websites. But since “Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a mess on PC” is a hot topic, everyone, from gaming websites to YouTube channels, is trying to benefit from it for the clicks. Ironically, the game is also a mess on consoles. Yet the media is solely focusing on PC, making people believe that the console version is fine. No, it’s not. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor runs just as awful on consoles.
What’s also funny is watching people with systems capable of running the game at more than 50fps, refunding the game on PC just so they can get the PS5 or Xbox Series X version. I mean, why? For gaming at similar framerates with a significantly worse image quality? The console versions still have traversal stutters. Why not just lock the PC version at 30fps if you’re going to play the PS5 version in Quality Mode? You can do that with Rivatunner, you know that right?
All in all, console enthusiasts and gamers should really up their standards. In 2023, I thought we were passed the “console war” thing. However, people just seem to prefer making their favourite platform sound better. Imagine if we were like “The game is fine, it can run with constant 60fps on our PC system. PC gaming FTW, the only platform that can give you constant 60fps.” I mean, we could do that as we have the following video with graphs that shows the game running with constant 60fps in the Koboh Outpost. And currently, there is no other platform that offers 60fps than high-end PCs. It’s possible.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor - Koboh Outpost running with constant 60fps - Native 4K/Epic Settings/No RT
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Here is the key difference, though. We are not blind fanboys or delusional. We know that the Ryzen 9 7950X3D is simply brute forcing its way here. The game should be running better on older CPUs, it doesn’t justify its huge CPU requirements. This isn’t a new “Crysis” game. This applies to both consoles and PC. If the game had visuals and physics similar to The Matrix Tech Demo, then we wouldn’t be complaining. This is nowhere close to what a current-gen game should look like. Seriously, take a look at the following screenshot. I can easily name numerous old-gen games that look and run better than this.
So, instead of praising your favourite console, do yourselves a favour and start demanding more polished titles. There is a big difference between a game pushing current-gen platforms, and a game running awful due to optimization issues. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor runs and looks bad on consoles too. Even in Quality Mode, PS5 and Xbox Series X render it at 1440p. And no, the game’s issues are not exclusive to the PC version.
Source: DSOGaming
