I think the frustration is because they said that they locked the two version at the same specs to avoid the debates.

True. 900 on x1 doesn't automatically mean Ps4 should be able to hit a stable 1080p. It just doesn't work like that. People are too focused on res and framerate. Perhaps the PS4 version will have better textures, shadows, AA, etc.

@Catoplepas
They specifically said NPC and A.I intensive; CPU bottlenecks.(X1 & PS4 CPU are the same, but X1 is clocked a bit higher) The PS4s stronger GPU isn't the main focus here. And before anyone says that resolution is solely GPU bound, for an integrated GPU like the one in the PS4 that is not the case. A GPU bound task like resolution could indeed be affected by stress put onto the CPU (Unity is supposedly really CPU intensive) It's just a fact of the hardware.

Not trying to bash or anything, but this is reportedly not a GPU problem. They've said that over and over.

Of course they didn't say it.

Well based on the facts that whenever there's a resolution disparity between the two, it has always been in the PS4's favor
and there is no other sub-1080p game that runs at the same resolution on both systems.

It's a pretty safe assumption that the PS4 was the one getting downgraded here..

It just weird to me that they would state that the reason for parity was to keep people from arguing. They were quoted saying that and people are still arguing over the reason for parity.

If PS4's GPU can push for more assets in other areas then let it! We already know that the PS4's CPU was found to function better when tests were done and it can be overclocked greatly. The PS4 should be able to push for more, it's just ridiculous to debate otherwise.

This just seems crazy to me. Companies weren't so kind to Sony or helpful last gen, they didn't want to stop debates last gen. In fact many Devs sided with fanboys, Valve was one of them in the early years bashing Sony. So now that it's micro it's all good.

The game was never downgraded, they strictly stated they were aiming for 900p - 30fps all along. It would have to be 1080p in the first place to be "Downgraded".

@Catoplepas:

It's not an assumption. It's what Ubisoft came out and said. We can't really call it a fact because I'm pretty sure none of us were there in the studio while these decisions were being made. Whether its actually true or not we may never know, but I guess thats the point I'm attempting to make.

Yes it is true that the PS4 is a more powerful machine, but its not hugely more powerful and has its own limitations and bottlenecks just as the Xbox One does. Suckerpunch struggled with CPU usage when developing Infamous Second Son for example. There are post mortem articles they released talking about it.

Also, if you recall -Watchdogs was only at 1080p on PS4 and even less on Xbox One even without this parity nonsense they've created this round.

If the they can achieve 1080p on the PS4 then by all means they should but from the multiple sources I've read, it seems to have been in fact a technical issue. This site really seems to not want to accept that. Personally for me Ubisoft is screwing up left and right, regardless.

@death:

no, they said that *one* of the systems was giving them trouble, so they locked *both* to avoid "debates and stuff."

@KarmaV12-

They previously said they were targeting 1080p/60fps on both systems:

http://gamingbolt.com/assas...

.... *sigh*. Just please explain what does this mean: "We decided to lock them at the same specs to avoid all the debates and stuff," senior producer Vincent Pontbriand

I don't care... and I also didn't care when the X360 got better multiplats (meant by visuals)... despite the fact that the PS3 could handle the same game with the same visuals, but with higher effort invested from the dev team. I didn't care, because I bought the PS for it's exclusive content.

However... everyone in it's right mind would say that LOCKING DOWN FOR PARITY, for the sake of "AVOIDING DEBATES" is a wrong, very very wrong decision, and gives a bad feeling when you purchase such dev's games in the future. I think UBI "simply said" this AI stuff to put out the fire, that already became a wildfire...

But.. The problem is not with the owners of either of consoles... but with the fact that a development team can say such words without any disgrace...

(P.S.: I'm a PS fan, but one of my most anticipated game is Quantum Break, because I think Remedy is one of the most talented dev-group out there today... I just tell this to emphasize that I always buy consoles based on their exclusives!)

@CerealKiller - You perfectly summarized my opinion, with one simple sentence. Cheers!

People are talking about ac:unity in a bad(I don't give a crap about it no more) type of way, so I don't see how this is genius?! Lol! Hell, I don't even read new detailed articles about the features and Gameplay of it either...

@uth11
Targeting mean's they aim to get 1080p 60fps, They never reached the aim so they gave up and called it quits at 900p 30fps. So yes it's not a downgrade, purely just lack of effort.

I don't get how people still say the game WASN'T downgraded.

Whatever the xbone can do the PS4 can do plus more.

That's just the simple truth of the matter.

I didn't buy a PS4 to play the xbone version of games.

"Whatever the xbone can do the PS4 can do plus more"

The lack of options/features and network stability say otherwise. There is quite a bit the PS4 can't do due to it's much simpler OS and the way the system was designed around the GPU instead of the CPU. Xbox One's layers OS's are what enable many of the functions like Snap and the party/chat system which runs alongside the apps/games.

The PS4 is capable of prettier graphics, not smarter games. Look at Drive Clubs AI compared to Forza's AI for the latest example.

Catoplepas You are correct about the GPU and RAM being more powerful, but this is a CPU issue, which it's not and could very well be the other way around? We know the X1 and PS4 have the EXACT SAME CPU on the APU, but we don't know the PS4's clock speed except that it was mentioned when released that was 1.6ghz but an indie dev said it was higher? I don't know why all you Sony fanboys are being so defensive on this matter when it has nothing to do with the hardware of your console that are actually more powerful?

It isn't stone cold fact...

Gddr5 is high latency memory used for graphics... Ddr3 would be better for CPU related stuff.. We all knew this coming into this gen. Especially since both use nearly identical 8 core amd jaguar cpus with one at 1.75ghz and ps4s at 1.6ghz..

Yet everyone just wants to believe blindly that the hold up couldn't possibly be on their side..

Nobody ever had an issue blaming esram or sdks before... Ever think they are playing coy to not upset the ps4 fanboys?

It's not about getting the 1080p, the subject is another. They are just not making an effort and using its better capabilities of one of the machines to bring the best experience.
Want to see an example, when Diablo 3 Ultimate Evil Edition wasn't using the full capabilities of the Xbone to achieve the 1080p 30fp, how did Xbone's fans reacted? They said that the developing team was lazy and stuff. This was due to the inability of the developing team to use the Xbone capabilities to the best, not a decision. With Ubi it's the opposite, they have the ability to make the game better, yet are refusing to do so, because they want to avoid discussions and stuff.

I won't buy the game not because it's not 1080p, but because Ubi isn't making the effort to bring the best experience to one console.

No to parity. No to lazy developers.

it's not just resolution I hate when people keep mentioning that, I'm talking overall visual quality should be better on ps4 due to the machine being more capable.

The whole "we are CPU limited" and the AI uses more CPU time holds no merits if we talk resolution and framerate. This has absolutely no impact on fillrate and ROPs, the main reasons for limitation in resolution and frame rate.

UBI themselves said in the very same statement "we could run @ 100fps". Which one is it now?

There is no proof that Ubisoft gimped the PS4 version, I urge someone to present it here if they have it. Simply stating it's a stone cold fact is a fanboy statement. Provide real, tangible evidence. And evidence that the ps4 is more powerful is not evidence of what Ubisoft did. Perhaps 900p and 30fps is all they got the ps4 to do and they're struggling to get the X1 to that level, who knows? Well, you don't know, because ubisoft never made that statement.

Don't be mindless and hit "disagree" just because you own a ps4, use your brain and read what's actually been presented...

#stoptheassumptions

That isn't true. The PS4 definitely IS more powerful than the XB1.

The problem I see here and in all similar articles is that both Sony and Xbox fans are assuming that the game is in fact equal on both consoles. They assume that because there is parity in terms of the resolution and target framerate that the two versions must be the same across the board.

I very highly doubt this is the case. I predict that there will be other graphical differences between the two that explain how the extra performance of the PS4 was used.

People in this community as usual are making huge assumptions and freaking out prematurely and with way too little evidence. But I am confident that what I am saying will turn out to be true.

It was gonna be 1080, but they've said they locked it to 900.

DOWNGRADE.

I don't get it. You KNOW the PS4 is more powerful. You KNOW clock speed doesn't mean a stronger CPU. You KNOW the graphics are GPU based. You KNOW AI wouldn't affect graphics because of this. You KNOW that anything done on the XB1 can be done better on PS4.

But you come into these articles and say the same LIES again and again.

"Posting lies and spreading disinformation" is supposed to cause you to lose bubbles. I could easily count a dozen such comments over the past few days alone; why have you only been moderated once?

It's undeniable that the PS4 version was downgraded. Given that the PS4 performs better on EVERY multiplat that isn't locked for parity, how in the hell can you sit there and say "There's no downgrade," right after Ubisoft says they locked the game for parity?

What's more, how can you get away with telling lies and NOT ONE MOD take action? How can you be one of half a dozen to do so and face no consequences? I get that they can't catch everybody every time, but it sure does seem like they have the time to catch some people every time.

Just not the ones that need it most, it seems.

@Neonridr
"From the sounds of it, every game that ever comes out has to be a higher resolution on the PS4 otherwise the game was gimped."
No it's just suspicious if it isn't 1080p like the majority of PS4's games. Even if both systems had the same res the PS4 would have better shadows etc since the hardware is better.

Whatever the system they should make each one look its best, but of course they can't spend too much extra time on any one system relative to the others since they're a business.

as a game programmer, this is BS. AI, while having an impact on FPS, has 0 impact on resolution(unless its the sheer number of AI bots on screen, but in that case, the XB1 would be able to render ~40% less AI bots).

Since when has AC lifted the goal posts since inception? Has AC been on the graphical forefront and I didnt know? Has AC been the technological leader at any point? Now Death, in all his Xbox wisdom, would have you believe that AC Unity is so advanced compared to all other 3rd party titles, that CPU limits the PS4 version. The one aspect Xbox has an advantage, a very slight one to be honest. I wish Death would quit throwing his fudd around every AC article . Its Ubisoft were talking about. EVERY AC since Brotherhood has been riddled with bugs AND unintelligent AI. Bottomline, AC Unity will release and you'll wonder where this massive CPU usage is happening. It doesnt exist.

My problem with their excuse of being CPU bound on the PS4 is this.

The PS4 is highly capable when it comes to asynchronous GPGPU compute. Being built from the ground up with this in mind. So why isn't this tech being used to alleviate the CPU overheads?

Many devs have stated in the past that AI is the perfect type of calculation to carry out asynchronously on the GPU. Being that AI can be done out of order.

Short answer. Their excuse is BS. They wanted parity. And this was a simple enough excuse to use, as many peoples knowledge of a render pipeline is limited enough that it might fly.

It's just laziness. Why spend money optimising each version when they can just get both to an "acceptable" level and then say....

Hey sorry guys. But that is the best each system can handle. It's just a big coincidence that both versions are at parity.

Have an immature bubble for not being able to do basic math. PS4 is more powerful in GPU and RAM and CPU is a wash. If the CPU stuff is even then the GPU stuff should be more advanced on PS4. Surely the GPU is used for SOMETHING and that stuff should be better on PS4. It doesn't have to be res, it can be AA, shadows, flames or hairs or how about draw distance? If they don't do something better than that means they're putting MS politics or laziness over making the best possible version on each platform. Sorry it's as simple as that.

Death, you've been successfully refuted a billion times. Do you really need for me, or really anyone else, to continue to do it?

You know that the anonymous spokesperson email is bullsh*t PR speak. The senior producer on the game, who put his name out there, gave you the legitimate reason. Parity.

I can't believe you are naive enough to believe that a CPU process like A.I. will negatively affect a GPU process like resolution. Just stop.

ppl who have played it already(nic,rev3games) said the ai aint doing anything impressive/different from previous ac games....plus,ps4 has a sizable gpgpu compute,if you offload tasks to just one specialized cu,you can free up a good chunk of resources on the main cpu........theres plenty of room for 1080p

" It's the fans that assume anything done on the Xbox One can be better on the PS4" well, It can... It doesnt matter what they are using the power for, the ps4 has more of it. Also locking the res doesnt have much to do with the ai really.

@DK,

You'll have to forgive me for trustng the developers the game over members of he N4G community. I agree with part of what you are saying. On a traditional PC, AI won't impact resolution since the CPU is located on the mb and uses a seperate pool of DDR memory. The GPU is also seperate and has it's own GDDR to use. On a PC the GPU allows the CPU to do more with less since they are seperate.

On the Xbox One and PS4 the CPU and GPU are part of the same APU or SoC. They are sharing a common pool of ram with neither setup using the ideal memory for both the CPU and GPU functions. The PS4 is using the GPU to offload CPU functios to make up for GDDR's higher latency and non-linear pipelines. The Xbox One relies on eSram to increase GPU performance that is lost due to the use of DDR. What is done with one side of the chip affects the other.

As far as the billion of times I have been "refuted", you would think one of those times would offer proof instead of dated info from a company trying to sell a service that didn't even publish how the test was perfomed or even the amount of cores tested. Real world applications do not support your position of the PS4 being more than marginally more powerful. My belief is if you can't actually see the differance as an end user, the theoretical numbers and specs are irrelevant.

@Death, please explain then how one console with a much better gpu has to be the same resolution as the other? its like saying me with my gtx 680 can only run watchdogs at parity with my friends who has the same specs except a gtx 670.. makes no sense? yes i thought so.. I can run it at higher resolution obviously because i have a BETTER GPU....just like the ps4.. Gonna mark you for trolling also as you keep posting stupid comments and its obvious now you're trolling.

Osama bin laden could say PS4 is great and everyone here will cheer him on. Get over it folks. This is the version Ubi planned on. PS4 version may simply run a lot better, which would turn out to be a good decision to lock res/rate.

Jason,

Neither console is your PC. The CPU in the APU is x86 based, but that is where the similarities run out. Both the GPU and CPU are part of a single chip that uses a single memory pool. You aren't running a seperate GPU with it's own memory on either console. These APU's were designed for the tablet market and modified for use in consoles. The CPU's are identical with the Xbox One's running at a 10% higher clock rate which does increase performance contrary to some people are claiming. The GPU's are both part of the same family, but the PS4 does use a stronger one. As far as spec go, it is pretty much like comparing the 7700 series to the 7800 series. We both know the 7800 is pretty close to the performance of a pair of 7700 running in SLI. As nice as that sounds, it doesn't necessarily work that way when part of an APU. Both have the potential to run better than a PC since they are part of a single chip and aren't communicating over the systems bus where most PC's bottleneck. The CPU is the weak point in both consoles. Sony's GDDR solution is much simpler, but the CPU only has access to higher latency ram which is why the GPU needs to perform some of the CPU's tasks. It's not a bad solution, but it does reduce the real world performance of the GPU since it is doing more than a traditional GPU. The Xbox isn't ideal either like I said above. The lower speed DDR in the Xbox One makes it so the CPU doesn't need to offload tasks to the GPU, but the GPU is accessing lower speed ram which affects performance. The eSram boost the GPU speed, but is more difficult to work with. No one believes the Xbox One solution is faster, but the performance of the two isn't as easy to compare as a couple GPU's for your PC. Real world applications will determine how close the two or how far away they are. To date, nothing is really supporting the PS4 as being as powerful as fans claim. If anything over the past year we have seen Microsoft helping devs achieve better results than it had at launch with the Xbox One's more complex architecture. The disparity is decreasing as far as visual specs go.

The sad part, if true, is that developers are now catering to the trolls on the internet, now screwing over normal people that just want to play games.

If they were different resolutions, PS4 trolls would go bonkers and rip the XB1, XB1 owners would rip the dev.

They lock the resolution. and PS4 trolls go bonkers and rip the dev.

Again, here is a novel idea, if a person is so passionite about gaming buy all systems, if you can't afford to stop getting all upset about developer making business decistions.

Second, if resolution and framerate is this uber important thing that will ruin a game for you, you also have the option to game on pc which will usually always look better, guess what you can even still own a console.

I hate siding with people on the issue of power and "gimping", but let's be honest with ourselves here: if Xbox One hits 1080p/60fps, so does PlayStation 4. If One hits 1080p/30fps, 4 usually runs unlocked up to 60fps. If One hits sub-1080p/60fps, 4 had a higher resolution, perhaps not always 1080p, but at 60fps.

That all being said, do you honestly believe both consoles have equal output now? Ubisoft is very clearly doing this intentionally.

Do I personally care? No, because I haven't played assassin's creed since Revelations.but I see why people are upset. They can do better. I know it, you know it, we all know it. Let's see what the AI is like and see if their excuses have legs. Maybe we'll both learn something about game development.

EDIT: N1kki6,

While I get what you're saying, technically, a smart business move would be to up the ante of the PlayStation 4 version. Since it's got the largest install base, if games continue to do very well on PS4 and if we had a market takeover by Sony (which, I should say, would be bad) like the PlayStation 2 days, they could focus only on PlayStation 4. Games would run better and development time would be shorter. No, I don't condone that, but I'm pretty sure that would be a pretty sweet scenario for developers to only have to use resources on one version.

@Death: So when you say "trust the developers" you mean trust them after one of them came out and said "yeah, we gimped the PS4 version for parity" and actually has his titled and name stated right? What you actually mean is "I'm going to trust an unnamed spokesperson that sent an email" as opposed to someone who staked his name on his comment right?

And now you're trying to dismiss legitimate proof by saying it's dated? Dated proof is still proof. Tell you what, we'll continue this in the next article that pops up about this, in which you'll continue to fallaciously believe that the PS4's CPU is underpowered. How will we continue it? Well quite obviously you're going to provide me with the PS4's clock speed. I'll be looking forward to it.

But the powa of tha cloud....

If that were the case then you don't fucking go out saying it's to avoid "debates and stuff", now granted we know most devs are stupid, but yo be that retarded is quite the feat.

They could've easily gotten away with the reason you just stated, granted it would be a lie.
Why else would you possibly say it's to avoid "debates and stuff"?

They specifically said both versions are locked at 900p to avoid debates and stuff.

@ Death

Absolutely correct.

This gen's gamers are a bunch of bitchy resolution whores.

Seriously, cancelling a pre-order over pixels. Pathetic.

THIS is the price we have to pay for journalists going into a frenzy over "resolution-gate".

The ironic thing is that the reason for the 900p @ 30fps is limited to the CPU running the AI, and not the GPU.

The GPU in the PS4 is more powerful than the Xbox One, but the CPU on the Xbox One is more powerful than the PS4.

This means in theory that the Xbox One is the downgraded version, not the PS4.

Imagine the outrage if the Xbox One was visually better than the PS4.

Precisely, Death.

I stopped reading after the first 2 paragraphs sounded like it was written by an N4G fanboy.

http://www.dualshockers.com...

Where does it say ,they are downgrading the PS4 version ?

@Bdub2000: Haha, no... I had Skyrim for the PS3, despite I knew that it's the worst version. (It was a gift, but really liked it after the major patch.)

I didn't have any words on what YOU (or any PC gamer including me) should do, with AC:Unity. I told my honest opinion, how I feel with this "locking-down", including my fear that soon, this may be a standard for other games. Telling this to you, as my "standards" that you referred to: my purchase of Project Cars and Star Citizen will be PC only...

P.S.: Nice one on my name, however that's a thing I can not have a stand against, so I'll just ignore that pun. :)

it's not about the overall performance. PS4 is capable of better performance than X1 and should be taken advantage of. Doesn't even have to be resolution just something to show they're not playing MS's politics of parity instead of making the best possible version on each platform. How would you feel if PC was capped in favor of PS4 having parity with it?

But then again, Ubi downgraded the PC release to make sure it wasn't too different from the consoles release. Sure, somebody unlocked it but still, if their programmers were not lazy it would not have happened.

@Jaqen_Hghar
Are you a compuer engineer? Are heavy into the Custom PC or Modding scene? Read articles about hardware and architecture advances daily?

I have a feeling, just like the majority of the gamers on this site, that you have no idea what the difference is between an APU and CPU/GPU in a traditional PC. APUs contain both the CPU and GPU on a single die and allow offloading tasks from one to the other if needed. It's suppose to be one of the next big things for a while now, simply because it alleviates a system bottleneck between the CPU and GPU. The integrated GPU can even work in concert with a dedicated GPU to increase graphics performance.

So in the PS4s case, if AI is intensive in AC:Unity then some of the AI processes are most likely offloaded to the GPU which in turn affects resolution and capability.

The Xbox One version most likely can handle the AI better thanks to it's DDR3 and CPU, but the GPU and eSRAM cause a bottleneck on the visual side in comparison.

It's not as black and white as "PS4 is strongerz! It should have higher rezs and effectz."

Each has it's own bottlenecks. Each has it's strengths. The Xbox One has a better CPU/Memory combination whereas the PS4 has a better GPU/Memory combination.

Holy crap! I think I just explained why, if the AI reason is true, the resolution is locked on both consoles better than Ubisoft has.