Bethesda has made a shocking claim about Fallout 4 on Xbox Series X.
In a tweet from a few hours ago, they said:
“Quick note on Fallout 4 Next Gen Update on Xbox Series X. It actually targets 4K 60fps in all modes. Performance Mode is more aggressive in lowering settings to maintain this target.
Hope this clears up any confusion. Keep the feedback coming and thanks for playing!”
So, we’ll just unpack this a little bit in case there’s any confusion. Bethesda had previously explained that the next-gen update does 60 FPS on 4K on performance mode. Meanwhile, on quality mode, it does 30 FPS on 4K, and with quality mode on a VRR screen, it aims for 40 FPS on 4K.
So did Bethesda contradict themselves here? No. What Bethesda is saying is that the game pushes 4K 60 FPS on Xbox Series X, regardless if you choose performance or quality mode. The results are different because Performance Mode lowers your other game settings to get closer to that target. That could be things like ambient occlusion, shadows, and other texture and lighting effects. It doesn’t mean that the game reaches that target consistently on both modes, only that it goes above and beyond to hit them.
But what that really points out is that this makes Fallout 4 really shine in Quality mode on Xbox Series X. While the game isn’t able to push all of the graphical effects and performance at the same time, this choice means that Fallout 4 gets closer to 60 FPS than other games that have a Quality mode.
And yes, if you didn’t notice it earlier, Bethesda pointing out this was only on Xbox Series X means that PlayStation 5 owners don’t get this much performance. Now, we should be clear that Bethesda did not state or try to imply that they weren’t going to do this for the PlayStation 5. But for several obvious reasons, it would be easier for them to do this on Xbox Series X first.
Bethesda has been owned by Microsoft for some time now, they get direct support from the Xbox team, and they also get support from the technical geniuses at The Coalition. Sony obviously has the same kind of technical expertise available for games on PlayStation 5. If they wanted Fallout 4 to also do as well, they should be offering the same kind of support for their system.
But this is where we get into the thorny issue Sony faces with having Microsoft publish games on their platform. With no malice, Microsoft owned studios can simply work on improving their games on Xbox first because they have easier access to Xbox tools. It’s not that Sony is lacking in games to compete with Microsoft’s games, either – it’s also their choice to allow Microsoft to keep publishing games on PlayStation.
It’s easy to spin this story for console wars, but really, what’s important to know here is Xbox Series X owners should really be playing this game on this platform over anything else, regardless of what they have available.
