Square Enix: No Huge Graphical Improvements Likely in PS4, Xbox One Launch Timeframe

Games will look better than ever before on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Whatever you feel has set the bar on current hardware will be quickly leapfrogged, and this process will continue as developers learn more and more about the fresh architecture. However, Square Enix's worldwide technology director, Julien Merceron, knows it’ll take more than just simple horsepower to eliminate that pesky uncanny-valley effect.

"I still believe it's going to be a long journey before we can sit together and you can show me a game that has nailed it," Merceron told Games Industry in a recent interview. "It's our duty to make progress on this front in this generation."

It’s that mix of real and fake human characteristics that throw people off, and this uncanny valley is likely something we’ll continue to deal with early on in the next generation. That means that while games will look “better” on the new consoles, you probably won’t see any massive leaps.

"If improved graphics aren't combined with better animation, all these games are going to dive into the uncanny valley," Merceron continued. "So it's possible around the launch timeframe that we won't actually see huge improvements in graphics because the developers still have to sort out how they will approach animation. That generally takes more time than upgrading your rendering engine."

Titles like Forza 5 and Killzone: Shadow Fall look fantastic. But with a few more years under the best developers’ belts, games can really be something special on the Xbox One and PS4.