Porting From PC to PS4

[littlewicky]

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-how-the-crew-was-ported-to-playstation-4

 

 

 

"It's an intriguing state of affairs, especially if you're a PC gamer with a reasonably powerful computer. Once upon a time your hardware was a porting target, sometimes with only minimal effort put into the conversion. Now, PC is lead platform".

 

 

The article goes on to talk about how easy it was for the team to port The Crew from the PC to the PS4. Yes I know this is talking about a console. But if it is easier for the developers to port a game from PC to console I would think the quality of games would increase, since the devs don't have to put time and money to re-code the game.

 

What you guys think.

[sonarctica]

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-how-the-crew-was-ported-to-playstation-4

 

 

 

The article goes on to talk about how easy it was for the team to port The Crew from the PC to the PS4. Yes I know this is talking about a console. But if it is easier for the developers to port a game from PC to console I would think the quality of games would increase, since the devs don't have to put time and money to re-code the game.

 

What you guys think.

This was established some time ago when they said it'll use PC hardware. Same kind of hardware means easier porting over to PC.

[littlewicky]

 

This was established some time ago when they said it'll use PC hardware. Same kind of hardware means easier porting over to PC.

 

I know that, but it is nice to hear from a dev that they are finding porting alot easier then before. Hopefully meaning better games

[WoodenMarker]

I know that, but it is nice to hear from a dev that they are finding porting alot easier then before. Hopefully meaning better games

Lol, what platform do you think devs use to make games?

[stevv]

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-how-the-crew-was-ported-to-playstation-4

 

 

 

The article goes on to talk about how easy it was for the team to port The Crew from the PC to the PS4. Yes I know this is talking about a console. But if it is easier for the developers to port a game from PC to console I would think the quality of games would increase, since the devs don't have to put time and money to re-code the game.

 

What you guys think.

 

dead link?  

 

Additionally, it's reduced PS4 and XBONE ports.  Then again, since PS3 and Xbox 360 isn't going away anytime soon... I'm wondering how it will effect dev.  Given PS3 and Xbox 360 support or not support,  Which direction will they still go?

 

 

This was established some time ago when they said it'll use PC hardware. Same kind of hardware means easier porting over to PC.

 

In theory vs in practice... Then there's our expectations vs execution by the dev at the end of the day.  I'm hoping the benefit cascades soon.  Looking forward to unreal engine 4 demos in-game quality, especially the "Infiltrator".

[dyent10]

i like to think about it in a developer's perspective. with next gen consoles bieng close to a home computer, would porting a game from console to PC easier? sure. but why would you? console's have a more fanboys than pc. if u already made money from consoles, why would you go to the pc where the fanbase is smaller and games are more easily pirated, unless the game has a really air tight drm. in which case, very few people would buy it. i am a PC gamer, but from a developer stand point, i would take my business to consoles, unless im developing a game for oculus rift. that would be awesome.

[EChondo]

was this the link? http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-how-the-crew-was-ported-to-playstation-4

 

Very interesting and I want to play The Crew so bad! Looks like an amazing game!

[Chevaishr]

i like to think about it in a developer's perspective. with next gen consoles bieng close to a home computer, would porting a game from console to PC easier? sure. but why would you? console's have a more fanboys than pc. if u already made money from consoles, why would you go to the pc where the fanbase is smaller and games are more easily pirated, unless the game has a really air tight drm. in which case, very few people would buy it. i am a PC gamer, but from a developer stand point, i would take my business to consoles, unless im developing a game for oculus rift. that would be awesom e.

good pc games make as much money as the ps3 for the developers http://www.destructoid.com/pc-vs-console-gaming-infographic-pc-is-making-a-comeback-212611.phtml

[qwertywarrior]

well i dont agree 100%

 

it will be easier dont get me wrong

but still

its a different OS

drivers will still be hell  and example of this would be the "Rage" fiasco

[Cronus]

I don't think we stand to see higher performance in games just because PC will be the base platform. If the primary market is, say, the PS4, then it will be much cheaper to develop for the performance of the PS4, even if it is ported to the console from the PC.

[Damikiller37]

Hopefully now companies won't give us the junk where we have to wait months for a PC release of a game. There is no excuse anymore.

[qwertywarrior]

The Crew across to PlayStation 4 was accomplished in six months with a team of just two to three people working on it.

what the hell

thats an amazing accomplishment !!!!

[Cronus]

Hopefully now companies won't give us the junk where we have to wait months for a PC release of a game. There is no excuse anymore.

 

 

There's always an excuse for some companies, that being PC has higher piracy rates and they believe if they release it on consoles earlier they will sell it to some of the people who would have otherwise pirated it on day one for PC. Then there's the whole thing with timed exclusivity.

[silencerbob]

There's always an excuse for some companies, that being PC has higher piracy rates and they believe if they release it on consoles earlier they will sell it to some of the people who would have otherwise pirated it on day one for PC. Then there's the whole thing with timed exclusivity.

Sad but true my friend.. Games like Mortal Kombat come out on PC more than 2 years after console.. Not because it "can't be done" , but because its not as profitable. Now that PC is the same platform hardware-wise.. Console games' publishers will still unfortunetly favor console releases first to maximise sales. Triple A games like BioShock / assassins creed / crysis / witcher will insist for PC releases regardless.. And that why we love em.

[littlewicky]

Say we are able to emulate a the consoles. You could just buy the console version, plop it on your PC and not have to wait for the official PC release.

[Humbug]

i like to think about it in a developer's perspective. with next gen consoles bieng close to a home computer, would porting a game from console to PC easier? sure. but why would you? console's have a more fanboys than pc. if u already made money from consoles, why would you go to the pc where the fanbase is smaller and games are more easily pirated

Because if the porting cost is lower it will still be worthwhile as they will sell more copies overall by having it available on all platforms.

Also- although PC gaming is niche it's not as small as some people would have you believe. A lot of the misinformation has happened because the majority of PC game sales are digital from Steam and Origin etc. A lot of sources look at retail pc game sales and think it's too small.

[qwertywarrior]

There's always an excuse for some companies, that being PC has higher piracy rates and they believe if they release it on consoles earlier they will sell it to some of the people who would have otherwise pirated it on day one for PC. Then there's the whole thing with timed exclusivity.

i dont want to post a torrent website here but

the funny things it most of the time

xbox 360 has more seeders than the pc equivalent

and example of this is Grid 2

[Cronus]

i dont want to post a torrent website here but

the funny things it most of the time

xbox 360 has more seeders than the pc equivalent

and example of this is Grid 2

That doesn't mean that consoles have higher piracy rates than PC, it just means that there's a larger population of console gamers to pirate. Hypothetically, if there are 1000 console gamers and 100 PC gamers the PC would have higher piracy rates at 50 pirated to 50 sold than the consoles would for 400 pirated to 600 sold. If all of the pirates seeded, then it would look like console piracy is higher, but in reality a larger proportion of PC gamers would be pirating.

[EChondo]

That doesn't mean that consoles have higher piracy rates than PC, it just means that there's a larger population of console gamers to pirate. Hypothetically, if there are 1000 console gamers and 100 PC gamers the PC would have higher piracy rates at 50 pirated to 50 sold than the consoles would for 400 pirated to 600 sold. If all of the pirates seeded, then it would look like console piracy is higher, but in reality a larger proportion of PC gamers would be pirating.

Yeah, at 50/50 versus 400/600 if you're talking pure percentage and not looking at the totals.

 

In my opinion, consoles are way easier to pirate on, you can also play pirated games online on consoles as opposed to PC gaming.

[Cronus]

That may be your opinion, but most consoles (especially those still being actively supported with new content) take a little more configuration to play cracked games than dragging and dropping a couple of .dll or executable files into a directory. I prefer PCs to consoles, and don't believe the draconian DRM and timed exclusive policies of a lot of publishers are right, but you can't realistically deny that it's easier to pirate on PCs compared to consoles, many of which require particular model or firmware revisions, and even in some cases hardware mods, to play pirated games.

 

And yes, I am talking pure percentage. For every, say, 1 million  PC and console titles sold, the publisher is going to be making more money from consoles when you use the percentages from my hypothetical example. Again, my example was hypothetical, in reality there's a wider gap between PC and console piracy rates. Judging by Bethesda's PC Skyrim sales, PCs have roughly 15-20% of the AAA market. And I guarantee you most pirated games have multiple PC torrents ahead of the console ones, which certainly means PC has a higher piracy rate considering it's dwarfed by consoles in sales for titles like that 4-1. So unless you're specifically referencing frequent instances where a torrent or combined torrents for a console image has more than four times the seeds/peers of its PC equivalents, then I rest my case.

 

Note to the scary guys with the banhammers that this is a discussion about piracy, not one meant to advocate or advertise it.