Spencer: 4K & HDR Don't Offer the Same Transformative Leap We Saw from SD to HD

In an interview with the Game Informer Australia magazine (at present available here on the Web), Head of Xbox Phil Spencer talked about several hot topics. One of this was whether there'due south a transformative bound in graphics with cutting edge technologies like 4K & HDR, which are being implemented in popular platforms such as Xbox Scorpio, PlayStation four Pro and PC. As usual, he offered a refreshingly honest answer.

Large spring is an interesting one... I've been around Xbox since the original Xbox and I call back the shift from SD to HD. I recall seeing Gears of War one, which for us was the first game that I saw on pre-release 360 hardware, and I went, "Wow, that just looks similar something new..." The outset time you lot saw a sporting event on live Television set in HD, y'all went, "Okay, that is something dissimilar."

One of the challenges for the generation nosotros're in now is the spring from 360 to Xbox One, or bluntly PS3 to PS4, is visible on screen merely non at that same level. It's not a 2nd to 3D transition or an SD to HD transition. Yous have to be closer to understanding the content and appreciating the content, considering those tardily-gen 360 games expect pretty good.

When I see 4K games, they look demonstrably improve, but it's not the same departure that we saw from SD to Hard disk, or from 2D to 3D when gaming went that direction. HDR is the same way: I dear the fashion movies and games wait in HDR, merely I don't think it's that same transformative thing that we saw with [earlier leaps].

Considering that Microsoft is already selling an HDR uniform console (the Xbox One S) and that it will try to offer "true 4K gaming" with Projection Scorpio side by side year, Spencer's obvious reply would have been the exact opposite. And yet, he is definitely right in a way due to the law of diminishing returns. Of form, truthful enthusiasts will keep getting the latest and greatest hardware no matter what.