Starfield Will Run at 30fps in Xbox: Have Consoles Reached Performance Limits Already? | Opinion

Citing performance fidelity, Todd Howard said that Starfield will run at 4K 30fps on Xbox Series X. Will this be the standard for overly complex triple A titles?

The Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 were pitched as the most powerful consoles ever made. They targeted a 4K 60fps performance standard for most games, moving the industry towards the UHD territory.

Next-gen consoles have delivered on that promise; however, we still see some of the vices from last-gen hardware. For instance, games like FIFA, Madden, NBA 2K play at 60 fps while the cinematics are still locked at 30 fps. On PC this has never been an issue. In there, you can unlock the framerate for a smoother experience.

Maybe it's a design choice, or perhaps developers have not been bothered to change it. It feels that we only shifted from a 1440p or checkered resolution to a native 4K experience while everything else is still the same.

Starfield is CPU intensive

The game is one of the most ambitious projects to date. Starfield will be the first of its kind; it really feels like a true next-gen game. Every aspect of the game has set the bar quite high: its visuals are stunning, the world is vast, and there is vehicle and on-foot exploration, with tons of combat, inventory, and upgrade systems.

Starfield is very reminiscent of games like Star Citizen, or No Man's Sky. The difference lies in the scope; Starfield is more ambitious in all the departments mentioned above. It is the intertwining of those underlying systems that make the game CPU intensive.

To still maintain fidelity, Todd Howard, president of Bethesda stated that Starfield will run at 30fps on the Xbox Series X|S. By fidelity he referred mostly to systems like inventory management, item placement, rendered artifacts, objects, and many more that are not so obvious to us. Visuals are also part keeping that experience hegemonic on consoles and PC.

To keep the game running consistently, Bethesda opted for a 30fps experience. This choice is based on design; the consoles can surely achieve a higher frame rate, but there could be sacrifices here and there that will not make the experience the same as on PC.

Is this the best consoles can do?

It is a very tricky question to answer. We have seen consoles like the PlayStation 4 run decade old games like GTA V at 30fps and most recent ones like Assassin's Creed Valhalla run at 60 fps.

It really depends on the developer and the scope of the game you are making.

Consoles have been known to have 'budget' versions of PC hardware components like the CPU and GPU. Their performance is somewhere between a gaming laptop and a gaming PC.

If we wanted premium components for our consoles, the price would be closer to the $1000 range rather than the $500. This is where console architects really earn their money. They must work on ways to optimize the hardware they've been given and make the most out of it.

Is this the best consoles can do? Have we already hit a performance roof? Only time will tell. We have seen last-gen consoles evolve from games like Infamous Second Son on the PS4 to masterpieces like Spider-Man or Ghost of Tsushima.

Other games like Red Dead Redemption truly speak about the capabilities of the PS4 and Xbox One X. Once developers understand the hardware they are working with, they can produce incredibly more ambitious games.

Starfield is one-of-a-kind

Starfield is a game that we might see once every 4 or 5 years. Current gen consoles might only see one or two games in that vein. Producing a game like this takes a lot of time and resources.

GTA VI could be the other game like Starfield in terms of scope, however, the game will be contained in a single map, not a thousand planets. This will allow developers to optimize the performance to a 60fps experience, or at least give you the ability to choose between performance and resolution mode.

Even though GTA has a lot of sub-systems running simultaneously, it is not as CPU intensive as Starfield. The GPU can take more of the performance load, making higher frame rates attainable.

What's on the 'horizon'?

The gaming industry has found a sweet spot in terms of scope. Games are usually +50 hours and take place on a moderately large map with basic AI, combat, inventory, and upgrade systems.

Horizon Forbidden West is a clear example of the type of games we will continue to see on consoles for the next few years. The industry, or Sony at least, has been able to streamline the design and development process, making deliverables plausible within a realistic period.

Developers had time to 'practice' and perfect this process later during the last-gen's lifecycle. Games like Ghost of Tsushima, Death Stranding, and others instantly received next-gen upgrades that took advantage of the extra hardware power from the new consoles. 4K 60fps was achievable for the first time on these games.

We now see a trend that games give players the ability to choose between fidelity and performance mode. One favors visuals, while the other focuses on frame rate. This is a simple but incredibly necessary solution, especially if the game has a photo mode feature.

We have still yet to see what the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are truly capable of. Once developers find that extra bit of performance on the hardware, we might see slightly more ambitious games with variable refresh rate, and higher frame rates as a standard.

We are far from reaching the console's hardware and software limits, however, big names like Microsoft and Sony are already working on the next generation of consoles. Who knows where the next step will take us, in the meantime, we have plenty of time to enjoy current gen gaming.

What do you think of Bethesda's decision to run Starfield at 30fps on consoles? Do you prefer PC games? Let me know in the comments below.

Happy gaming.