Why is Need for Speed Unbound Only on Next-Gen Consoles and PC?
As an avid Need for Speed fan, the first question on my mind when Unbound was announced was – why is it only on next-gen and not the hundreds of millions of PS4s and Xbox Ones out there? It turns out the developers intentionally focused efforts only on leveraging the power of new hardware. Let‘s dive into the reasons why.
Ambition Meets Hardware Limitations
Early in development, Criterion Games actually wanted Need for Speed Unbound to be more widely accessible by also launching on last-gen PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles.
In an IGN interview, Criterion‘s Creative Director Kieran Crimmins shed light on the decision: "We started thinking maybe we could do this on the older platforms as well. We quickly realized that wasn‘t gonna work out. So we made that difficult decision to focus then on the newer platforms”.
According to Crimmins, while they pushed previous generation hardware to its limits, ultimately the older consoles “couldn’t quite run Unbound the way we wanted it to.”
Unbound By-The-Numbers
To truly take advantage of new technology, the team optimized Need for Speed Unbound target the following performance:
| Platform | Resolution | Framerate |
|---|---|---|
| PlayStation 5 | Native 4K (2160p) | 60 fps |
| Xbox Series X | Native 4K (2160p) | 60 fps |
| Xbox Series S | Upscaled 1440p-1080p | 60 fps |
Additionally, next-gen consoles can support a wider color gamut and advanced HDR lighting capabilities that can be leveraged to make the visuals pop.
For reference, 2020‘s Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit only targeted 30 fps on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Unbound represents a generational leap forward in graphics, performance, and overall immersion.
Inside the Developer Mindset
So how did focusing only on next-gen consoles and PC enable them to push boundaries? According to Crimmins:
“The processing power now allows us to run at 4K 60, with really high-quality visuals, highly-detailed cars, much more life in the world, civilians, traffic, all that kind of stuff…that older platforms just couldn’t quite run Unbound the way we wanted.”
Additionally, in an EA Blog post, Creative Director Riley Cooper provided more context:
“The increased memory and storage space afforded by new hardware also gives us almost endless freedom to bring this stylized world to life.”
It’s clear the Criterion team has big ambitions for revolutionizing the franchise. To achieve their creative vision required tapping into the potential of cutting-edge PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and high-end PC hardware.
Analysis – Why PS4 and Xbox One Were Left Behind
When asked directly about not launching on PS4/Xbox One by news site Stevivor, Chief Studio Officer Matt Webster said:
“I think we just got to the point where we felt like the ambition that we had visually for the game, and some of the design ideas that we wanted to put in there, I think we just felt that the old gen wasn’t going to be able to allow us to deliver that.”
Digging into the specs and hardware leap:
| Metric | PS4 Original (2013 hardware) | PS5 (2020 hardware) | Implications |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPU Power | x86-64 AMD Jaguar 8 cores @ 1.6 GHz | 8 Zen 2 cores @ 3.5GHz | 5.5x faster CPU enables advanced physics, AI, simulation |
| GPU Power | Integrated AMD GCN 1.84 TFLOPs | Integrated Custom RDNA 2 10.28 TFLOPS | 5x faster GPU allows for ray-traced graphics, 4K resolution, 60 fps gameplay |
| System Memory | 8 GB DDR5 shared | 16GB GDDR6, 256-bit bus | 2x memory critical for expansive open world asset loading like traffic, pedestrians |
It‘s abundantly clear that a game engine and ecosystem designed exclusively for last-gen hardware would severely bottleneck the creative vision and capacity of what could be achieved in Unbound.
The new power of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S have effectively "unbound" the franchise from previous technical limitations.
The Future is Next-Gen + PC
The Criterion team‘s strategy to focus efforts exclusively on next-gen seems to have already paid massive dividends based early critic reviews. Need for Speed Unbound currently sits at an excellent 84 OpenCritic score and praised specifically for its stunning visuals and thrilling sense of speed.
As demand for latest consoles continue to grow and supply normalizes in 2024, more Need for Speed fans will eventually be able to experience this revolutionized, platform-exclusive racing vision built specifically to take advantage of new hardware.
For EA and Criterion, Unbound likely represents a blueprint for the future as they continue exclusively leveraging the power of next-gen consoles and PC. If the early success is any indication, the future is certainly bright and fast for Need for Speed.
