Sea Of Thieves On PS5 Has Slight Edge Over Xbox Series X, Notes Digital Foundry

Ok at this point it feels like Digital Foundry is doing this just to trigger fanboy wars on Twitter

I know it's minor differences but the fact that the Xbox versions are inferior in that sense is crazy.

@LX_FENIX because they're reporting advantages on PS5?

They have always done this despite how minuscule the differences were.

@LX_FENIX They're simply providing objective information. A difference is a difference, even if minor, and it is appropriate to report it.

If anyone gets worked up over DF videos and objective comparisons, it may be time to put down the controller and touch some grass.

What a positive coincidence for Microsoft to be able to counter any of Sony's "inferior performance on Playstation by design" when they try to buy out their next big publisher.

Also and interesting note: both Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Thieves use UE4.

When it boils down to it, Microsoft chose to use more CUs in its GPU and Sony chose higher clock speeds.

Perhaps UE4 is more suited for Sony's approach rather than Microsoft's and the PS5 can have slightly higher quality shadows to maintain target framerates than Xbox. Neither is wrong and one approach may have better results than the others under certain conditions.

Such is life.

If anything, this just means Microsoft needs to choose its PR points more wisely when on paper metrics don't necessarily translate to real world metrics in every scenario.

@InterceptorAlpha @ShadowofTwilight pointing out minor differences is one thing, fixating on them is another. Two whole paragraphs for draw distance and shadow textures? Saying you "need a side by side comparison to see the difference" but then saying it's a "clear advantage".

I mean i get it, console war arguments drive engagement to their channels, but all this attention to such minor details when you could mention it and move on, feels like making mountains out of mole hills.

As I have mentioned elsewhere I would much rather have had access to the game for the last 6 years than to have an extra pixel of shadow on a tree.

For the porting of the game to Playstation - it’s probably a different team, with different priorities and it is a different decade. So things change.

It anything it’s a natural progression of tech and experience and the teams at Xbox should be praised for doing their best and not holding the PS version back unnecessarily like Jim Ryan accused them of potentially doing.

Also if Final Fantasy XVI comes to Xbox and has another pixel of detail on Torgal’s balls then does that mean Xbox wins? Or is it still better to have had the game for a year of your life?

Cheapest on XBox, best on PlayStation.

@K1LLEGAL, FFXVI isn’t a first party game.

@LX_FENIX that’s the whole point of DF to do a deep dive, compare the games on a level that pretty much no other site does.

You may not be interested in the technical stuff but plenty are and it’s great to have the information.

Most people who aren’t that interested just ignore it. Like I would do for many things I’m not interested in

One thing I've noticed every game that uses UE4 or last gen techs performs well on PS5. It has to do with something how different both the consoles were made. As with some recent titles Xbox seems to shine with the likes of games using DX12U api. I am not very familiar with this stuff so don't know why that happens

Irony is, canceling my Xbox Game Pass sub, to Subscribe to PSN, so I can play Xbox games.
Once Xbox sees the numbers it's just a matter of time before the rest of the exclusives jump ship. I'm patient, I can wait.

@Xbox_Dashboard "jump ship"

I see what you did there....

I remember how completely different the same game would be on Mega Drive and SNES. In some cases, it actually made it worth owning copies for both systems if you had them.

the gist of it is that PS5 has a few advantages despite being very similar to the Series X version overall

....Microsoft and terrible optics, they go together like bread and butter. At this point they well and truly crossed the Rubicon @ loosing theplot....😄

@K1LLEGAL you’ll be disappointed to know that there are no dog balls in FFXVI.

Sorry to be the bearer (FFXVI related pun intended) of bad news.

So these first party developers have access to the full power of the Series X (currently the most powerful console!) and they can somehow do better on PS5?? Is bad optics no matter how anyone tries to spin it 🤦

Whatever the reason, it will be interesting to see how this affects Microsoft's strategy in the future. I suspect they'll put more effort into developing superior clock speeds, GPU, CPU — superior everything. But if I were in Microsoft's shoes I wouldn't overlook how much the ease of making games for the PS5 contributes here, multiple developers have stated the PS5 is incredibly easy to work with and that's probably a factor here too.

@GamingFan4Lyf
This seems a common theme now.
I think it’s the series x split RAM memory.
And not being one pool of memory.
They both have the same amount of RAM but Xbox split is split into two pools and two different clock speeds, one slower than PS5 one faster than PS5.
As Sony went one total pool of memory at one speed.
I read developers saying a split pool is a pain as you have to allocate certain resources to fit in each pool, which takes longer and can effect performance depending on how you get around it.

@OldGamer999 Perfect example of the differences in thinking between Engineering and Software Development. 😅

I am sure an Engineer thought "Why consume the higher bandwidth memory for this smaller stuff when we can allocate a slower pool for it and leave the faster RAM for other things?"

A developer saw it was like "WTF is this?!" - especially with an engine that probably wasn't designed with this concept in mind as the slower memory was supposed to be use for:

audio data
stack data
executable data
script data

which feels more like a custom engine solution (or modifying UE4 to do so adequately).

@GamingFan4Lyf
You are spot on there, I think it was totally developed with engineering and cost in mind.
But not as a game or engine developer in mind, which has lead to the slight improvements on the PS5.
I’m hoping Xbox with their next generation console will go with one pool of unified RAM instead of a split pool.

@K1LLEGAL @Yorozayu It's hard to tell because graphics mode has such a low framerate you might miss them and performance mode is so blurry you definitely would.

@Yorozayu i’ve finished FFXVI so I understood that reference. Maybe the Xbox version has balls! Who knows.

@tho_mi touchè. Switch it with Helldivers then. Same thing - or does that not count because Sony doesn’t own the developer? Regardless the point still stands - switch FFXVI for a first party game.

@Yorozayu unfortunately many people hold DF in high regards. If DF complains about FPS, resolution, and graphics then many will carry that opinion. Even if the game is special and pushing boundaries. I find it funny how DF comments on trailers for new games and people covet that information. Personally I place more value on those than creative and not critics.

@101Force developers would still complain if the PS and Xbox were using the exact same SOC. These days console manufacturers aren’t using custom bespoke hardware so the learning curve isn’t what it used to be. In which developers had to learn new codes and machine languages to effectively master a console. Since Xbox one and ps4 this hasn’t been the case.

I genuinely could not care a t033!!

Live the game on Xbox. And that’s the way it will stay for me.

NEXT!

Starting to think Phil is a Sony mole

Digital Foundry and EuroGamer are well known to be PlayStation biased anyways.

@LX_FENIX That's kind of Digital Foundries thing to be fair.. if you don't like obsessive comparisons.. don't watch their videos. lol

@OnlyGaming is it biased if Playstation is consistently better even in small ways? Or are they just reporting facts you don't like?

Why would anyone on Xbox care about this ? It's just a very old game.
The Xbox has at least 4 AAA First Party exclusives this year one is releasing on Gamepass day one next month, Sony hasn't released any AAA First Party games since 2023 (and it was just one game for the whole year) their next game isn't coming until 2025, Microsoft are playing a good game here and it's Xbox owners who are benefitting.

@OnlyGaming

Um no, all of last gen was them confirming the One X trounced the PS4 Pro.

@OnlyGaming Only biased insofar that Xbox fan boys would call them biased because Sony does a good job at keeping an advantage.

I remember when everyone said DF and EG were biased toward Xbox when the One X was out performing the PS4 Pro. 😂😂

The reason shadows look better on the PS5 is because the PS5 renders shadows on Unreal Engine better than xbox. There's nothing xbox can do to make shadows look better for UE on xbox to overtake ps5 in that regard, it is what it is. So it's not an optimization of the game to bring it "up to par" on xbox, there is simply nothing they can do with that engine with the hardware the way it is, because shadows and UE will simply always be that way with these consoles.

It’s just my opinion, but why are we now arguing and getting worked up about which version of the game has better shadows and extra details? I feel that it’s just a very minuscule part of the game and shouldn’t affect a person’s mood or enjoyment. Digital Foundry is just doing its job; analyzing big and small details in hardware and video games. Just play and enjoy the game!