14 DAY TRIAL // Ubisoft admits that the fact that it brought Far Cry 4 to both console generations resulted in an inferior product as it couldn't really push the PC, PS4, or Xbox One versions because it would've made the PS3 or Xbox 360 editions look worse in comparison.
Far Cry 4 launched last November across the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One platforms. The first-person shooter was praised for its new location, its pretty interesting story, and the quite solid visuals achieved across all devices.
Far Cry 4 was weighed down by PS3 and Xbox 360 presence
However, according to Ubisoft Montreal Technical Lead Stephen McAuley, who organized a special talk at GDC 2015 last week, via DSOG, the game could've looked much better at least on PC, PS4, or Xbox One.
He talks quite candidly about the development process for Far Cry 4 and how it was drastically impeded by the fact that the game had to debut on PS3 and Xbox 360, besides the newer, more powerful devices.
McAuley explains that, on the last-gen devices, the initial plan was to have the same engine and visuals like Far Cry 3, but still maintain functionality and a general visual resemblance. As such, the whole project was weighed down by the legacy of the old devices.
"Our mandate as a graphics team was to lead on current-gen, keeping the last-gen engine the same as what shipped Far Cry 3. That gave us a lot of constraints as we had to keep the last-gen working, which affected a lot of our decisions throughout the project. By the end of the project, as was probably inevitable, we had to go back to the PS3 and Xbox 360 and polish those up, but it meant that we had a better product than FC3 on all platforms," he says.
McAuley declined to comment if these disadvantages mean that Ubisoft is no longer going to bring titles onto the PS3 and Xbox 360, but you can imagine that cross-generation efforts will be frowned upon in the near future.
