Next Generation Games: Stop Saying It’s Going To ‘Look Better’: It’s Obvious [Op-Ed]

Next generation games are being announced regularly these days, and when developers tell us it’ll “look better” on the new console, they are just overstating the obvious.

When companies like Ubisoft and Infinity Ward announce games that will be released not only on current consoles, but also on next generation consoles, they fall into a stupid habit. They keep telling us that the next generation games will “look better” on the new consoles. Wow, gee, I never would have thought that the Xbox One version of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag will look better than the one made for Xbox 360.

Yes, that was sarcasm.

Criterion Games pulled the same stupid announcement that Need For Speed: Rivals will look a little better on the Xbox One. All I can say is if it doesn’t look better, you fail as a developer. True, graphics aren’t everything, but when you supposedly have a more powerful graphics engine to work with, you owe it to the gamers to make the next generation version of the game look better.

If the next generation games don’t look better than they do on current consoles, why would most gamers bother to buy the new console? Why wouldn’t we just buy the game for the console we have and save a few hundred dollars for the same thing?

Yes, the fish will look more realistic underwater on the Xbox One version of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. Yes, the cars and tracks will be more detailed and possibly more colorful in the Xbox One version of Need For Speed: Rivals. Yes, the dog will be better animated and the environments will be more vibrant in the PlayStation 4 version of Call Of Duty: Ghosts. We don’t need to be told these things, unless you’re just looking for the public to pat you on the head and give you an “attaboy.”

Seriously, developers, stop telling us that the next generation games will “look better,” because if you’re doing your job, it’s obvious.