Ageing Hardware Like PS4, Nintendo Switch May Be Holding LEGO 2K Drive Back

I've been fairly vocal on where I stand on Cross Gen releases. 2 and a half years into the life of the PS5 they really shouldn't exist anymore. First 6 months it was just about acceptable but not now.

I did not spend all that money on a PS5 to play games that I could have played on platforms that I already owned. I want true next generation exclusives.

In this case though it's a strange one, there is an argument that the Nintendo Switch is still current Gen and there isn't a bigger potential user base currently on the Market than the Switch so I can totally see why they would want it available on there.

With that said the PS4 is obviously considerably more powerful than the Switch so in theory should be alot easier to get it running on that.

Tricky one to be fair.

I mean, I don't always need a big open world for every single triple a game. A game that's fun at its core will be good no matter if older consoles hold it back or not, unless those lower versions don't play well at all, which in that case doesn't even make sense to release at all in my opinion

"This is part of the reason why we think cross-gen games definitely need to end, as at this point, clearly, concessions are being made that are affecting what matters most, the games themselves."

Still don't understand this argument.

Many games don't require those concessions. Why skip out on viable older platforms for the games that can run across generations without concessions?

In this case, for a Lego game, I imagine the limitations of the Switch were the most important consideration, as those seem to sell well on Switch.

Older platforms holding the new ones back? Who would have thought that if devs have to have titles across older consoles and newer ones and have to have a similar experience then of course its holding the new gen up. Its time to let the older consoles go and i know some people will argue its not fair etc and i'll agree but is it fair on the people who have bought these new super duper consoles to be made to play games that are obviously hampered by old tech and programming when that new console is capable of so much more? It must be equally frustrating for game devs too..

Definitely the Switch more so than the PS4, I mean Ragnarok was made with the PS4 in mind and it's probably one of the better looking PS5 games.

And yet for Pc games devs are able to scale games to cover a range of Gfx cards ?

This generation has been the most underwhelming and disappointing of any.

''Slightly upgraded graphics'' seems to be the PS5's only selling point over the PS4. There is nothing ''killer'' on this console like the HUGE graphical leap of the PS2, or the DVD drive, or Blu-Ray, or internet gaming.

I've said it before and i'll say it again: I think the PS5 is Sony's most unwhelming console to date. We need that PS5 Pro because this thing ain't cutting it.

@LifeGirl and the ps5 pro magically iron out all the limits of cross gen?

Don't forget the Series S apparently. If developers have to make a stripped back version for the series S as mandatory then I'm sure it's not much more effort to also get it running on last gen consoles and may aswell if it still brings in enough money.

With around a quarter of a billion PS4 and Switch consoles sold you can see why they would want cash from their owners.

Switch must be a double edged sword for new racing games. On the one hand there's a gigantic potential playerbase but on the other hand there's Mario Kart 8 Deluxe that seems to pretty much kill off every other racing game on the platform, especially since the Booster Course Pass was announced.

With Microsoft wanting all their games to be made to run on the series S, that’s going to hold the X back on everything getting released cross platform too, and that is a really big problem for Microsoft since it’s their current gen consoles. So, if Sony were to finally drop the PS4 support, which lets be honest needs to happen now, the first party games on PS5 would in theory be absolute light years ahead of what will be on Xbox, since both versions of the PS5 that are available are identical from a graphical point. That would then make it really easy for the graphic hungry casuals to see a difference between the 2 systems and the gap between them sales wise would grow even more. I also wondered if 3rd party developers would get sick of having to hold back on their visions of games for the sake of downgrading to get the games running on older generations or inferior current systems and let loose on a console that there were far less limitations on, making games that are available across platforms look far superior on PlayStation aswell. This generation is really sticky right now and it is a real pain. Dead Space looked very good since they didn’t release last gen versions, but games can certainly look way better than that did as well. The PS4 had a helluva run, but the sooner Sony and 3rd party developers drop the support, games will start to look what is expected by now.

Don't release it there then?

Personally I still want games for my switch even if I own a ps5.

When I was growing up I didn't consider a game that couldn't hold a stable 60/30 fps as "unplayable" and complain all the time. Gameplay, story and art direction still remain king over quantifiable numbers if you ask me.

Especially if Sony doesn't come with a viable mobile solution for PlayStation gaming (native or streaming), I'm willing to go for so called "inferior" versions. For me the better version is the one that I find time to actually play because it's more accessible, which in my case is on a handheld device.

@tameshiyaku

I still want games for my Switch too but I mainly only buy Nintendo games for it.

Anything that's a multiplatform release I will almost always buy the PS5 version simply because I know it will be the better version.

Portability doesn't really interest me in fairness. The only exception is when I take my Switch on holiday with me for entertainment on the plane.

The rest of the time it stays docked at home.

Yes, it’s time to move on to PS5 only releases. We are 3 years in.

Can’t they just make 2 versions of a game? One for PS4, an Switch, one for PS5?

So make the new gen version open-world, and make the older versions not open-world? They did that with Lego Batman 2 on the Wii; lots of extra loading screens there.

Edit: Ah, beaten to it by @sjbsixpack

That's one of the most blatant "wink wink nudge nudge" comments I've ever seen. 😄

I mean, don't release it on a console where you have to compromise your vision? Or design a game that you can scale appropriately.

I don't think cross gen needs to end. I think publishers need to allow developers to decide where their games will work without significant compromise.

I don’t think a racing game needs an open world at all, and driving from one biome to another sounds a tad dull. I remember my disappointment when I played Burnout Paradise, and had to drive around looking for a race I hadn’t already completed. Yawn

People talk about ‘graphics hungry casuals’ but when you see a game like Plague Tale Requiem and those absolutely jaw dropping graphics as you walk around quite densely populated spaces … you see what games could look like on this console and it is quite annoying that most of them don’t…

(I don’t actually like Plague Tale but I played the trial and now see it as a graphical benchmark. I do also know that it was 30fps and not being action heavy allowed it to be a graphical spectacle. But Jesus it’s about the only thing I’ve seen that REALLY has those graphics that tell you you’re in a different generation. And now I want that.)

It's where the market is I guess, once people stop buying PS4 versions of big budget AAA games, they will phase them out. I've not bought a PS5 yet and not in a rush to do so, I prefer retro style games mostly anyway and mostly game on Switch these days, but at least cross gen titles seem to scale better to PS4 than they did PS3. Developers aren't required to make every title cross gen, so to say its 'holding games back' is only the case if they choose to make a game cross gen, because they want the sales. Ultimately in the pursuit of technology you get to the 'consoles are holding back PC gaming' perspective.

The C64 wasn't discontinued until 1994 I believe, by which time the PS1 was readying for launch. Older, more affordable, tech always has an appeal, and great video games remain just as playable years after their technology is superseded.

"you can’t make somebody wait for three minutes to load something in, right?”

What's it loading on? Floppy disc?

With a lot of cross platform games coming out on the Switch and having support the XSS, then the PS4 has got as much chance of running those games as those 'current' gen consoles.

ooh shocker

not . the switch partially ruined sonic frontiers and was aged when it came out

@JayJ ragnarok is a ps4 game that’s why

the ps5 damn near has 0 exclusives , worst playstation to date

@Bondi_Surfer Agreed about Burnout Paradise at the time. Most racers don't need to be open world. Modern game design is obsessed with this.

I would say just make some changes for each individual version and tailor it to the hardware it's being made for. There's still millions of players combined using Switches, PS4s and Xbones.

Sick of last Gen machines and time for games to flourish on PS5 and XBOX SERIES machines

@nomither6 Astrobot is worth buying the PS5 alone for! And it’s included with the machine

It'd be better to have a standard "as intended" version for modern systems and a unique last-gen version for the aging hardware.

@MFTWrecks agree, reminds me of how they handled the force unleashed ages ago.

If the PS4 is “holding it back” then it’s probably not even running on Switch at all. See Yooka-Laylee on Wii U. The Nintendo Life website did a preview for this game ON AN XBOX. 😝

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2023/03/hands-on-lego-2k-drive-is-a-wild-ride-but-will-it-prove-too-much-for-switch

I’ve said this before, but I think — for the most part — cross-gen releases can be a good thing, as long as they develop the game to run well on the previous generation, that could hopefully create a better likelihood that the game will run well on the current-gen hardware.

This situation is one of the few things that do hold the current-gen version back. Taking advantage of the SSD is the biggest thing a PS5 game can do, to cut down on load times and to load in a large open world.

But I still think this kind of thing is the publishers fault. If the LEGO 2K Drive team had the budget and time, they could develop a separate PS5 version with a seamless open world. Blaming this on old hardware is somewhat misplaced.

@LifeGirl Lol give it a chance were really only at the start of this gen (due to world circumstances)

In other news, the sky is blue.

@Shredderlovespizza

In terms of specs I absolutely agree but until there's a successor to the Switch it is still technically a current Gen console (albeit an underpowered one).

I'm the same to be fair, I only really use it for the Nintendo exclusives. Pretty much anything else I will buy / play on PlayStation as I know it will be the better version.

Handheld play doesn't really interest me. I mentioned that because there are people who are happy to trade off a slightly inferior version of a game in favour of portability but I'm not one of them.

@Member_the_game
"In this case though it's a strange one, there is an argument that the Nintendo Switch is still current Gen and there isn't a bigger potential user base currently on the Market than the Switch so I can totally see why they would want it available on there."

True, but OTOH, do they really need to make it work on the platform if they can't achieve their vision on the platform?

I know it's not as common nowadays and developers/publishers are taking less risks, but couldn't they just...not release it on that platform? Or develop a slightly different version of the game that's geared more towards that specific platform, like they used to do in the Wii days?

Totally agree that cross-gen needs to end already and isn't necessary.

Cross gen releases are holding back development point blank period. It's bad enough that Nintendo wants to keep the extremely underpowered switch around another 5 years but making games that have to run on PS4 and Xbox one must be extremely challenging. The PS5 and XSX hell even the series S is a substantial upgrade from the PS4 and Xbox one generation. The CPU bottleneck alone is incredible but what people fail to understand is that the older consoles mean the DEVS can't use or have to greatly scale down newer more Modern game engines. There's a lot more systems at stake than resolution and frame rates.

I hope moving forward we start to see publishers leaving behind last gen. I can honestly say my top 2 favorite games of 2022 were horizon Forbidden West & God of War Ragnarok both are cross gen games BUT it seems moving forward the DEVS are focused on current gen. Horizon Forbidden West upcoming DLC the Burning Shores will be released solely for the PS5. The implications are clear, guerilla games is ready to leave the PS4 behind. The massive player base can actually obtain a PS5 now which is incredible because it took almost 3 years for the PS5 stock issues to subside. I hope PS5 continues selling like hotcakes and that DEVS really buckle down and start creating games that simply wouldn't be possible on last gen consoles. Happy gaming ✌️