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Scorn Is an Xbox Series X Console Exclusive Because It “Enables Parity With the PC Version of the Game”

Shin

Banned
We recently got a look at various announcements of games coming to the Xbox Series X, and in that lineup of games, one that has caught the attention of many is Ebb Software’s first person horror title Scorn. Inspired by the works of H. R. Giger and Zdzisław Beksiński, this grim horror game is something the PC community has known about for years, but now developers Ebb Software have also confirmed the game for the Xbox Series X. Interestingly enough, however, that’s the only console the game has been confirmed for.

Why is that the case? What about the PS5? Well, we posed that question to Scorn’s developers in a recent interview, and Ljubomir Peklar, the game’s director, told us that they decided to launch as an Xbox Series X console exclusive because the hardware allows them to ensure that the console version has parity with the game’s PC version. He also added that they have nothing to share for now as far as a PS5 version is concerned.

“It’s very simple,” Peklar told us when we asked them about the game’s console exclusivity. “Good performance of the game is important to us. Xbox Series X is a very capable hardware that enables parity with the PC version of the game. We can’t discuss any info regarding PlayStation.”

Later on in the interview, Peklar also reiterated that on the Xbox Series X, Scorn will run at 4K and 60 FPS.


Credit: GamingBolt
 

hyperbertha

Member
lhxVYKI.gif
 

Kuranghi

Member
“It’s very simple,” Peklar told us when we asked them about the game’s console exclusivity. “Good performance of the game is important to us. Xbox Series X is a very capable hardware that enables parity with the PC version of the game. We can’t discuss any info regarding PlayStation.”

You could say this means they are saying that the PS5 version won't have graphical parity with the PC version ORRRRR you could interpret this as meaning that the PS5 is some next-level shit that even PC's can't touch, haha!

Just for the record I don't think its the latter lol, but this news could be positive for either side depending on how you read between the lines.
 

jimbojim

Banned
Funny thing is, around 2 weeks ago, Ljubomir said this :

The only thing they were interested in was exclusivity rights. Once all that was agreed upon it was a no brainer decision when you look at all the benefits Scorn will get from this partnership, from additional resources to much bigger exposure(marketing). It will certainly help us make Scorn a better, polished game in the end.



So, parity with PC isn't the reason
 

Kataploom

Gold Member
Of course he ain't saying "Because Microsoft paid us" lmao.

Btw, this just confirms that consoles are still gonna be technically inferior to PC this year when the game comes out.

Not that I care, really, but I'll have some good breaks from work reading gaf for sure ;)
 

Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
Of course he ain't saying "Because Microsoft paid us" lmao.

Btw, this just confirms that consoles are still gonna be technically inferior to PC this year when the game comes out.

Not that I care, really, but I'll have some good breaks from work reading gaf for sure ;)
I highly doubt MS paid them anything. Maybe free dev kits, but I don't see what they would have paid for.
 

Dory16

Banned
Of course he ain't saying "Because Microsoft paid us" lmao.

Btw, this just confirms that consoles are still gonna be technically inferior to PC this year when the game comes out.

Not that I care, really, but I'll have some good breaks from work reading gaf for sure ;)
Your console costs 500 and a high end PC 2000. Why shouldn’t your console be technically inferior? You’re lucky it’s that close with an XSX.
 

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
Hate articles like this where they don't actually show the wording of the question asked.

The developer really doesn't seem to be saying much of anything at all here.
 

Bernkastel

Ask me about my fanboy energy!
To be frank they want the game to look as good as it does in PC and still hit 60 fps. A games performance is combination of many factors like CPU/GPU power, RAM speed etc. Xbox also has many hardware and software level customizations like SFS to reduce CPU and GPU overhead. Also, relevant
 

Fbh

Member
LOL, it's always weird when devs gets asked this question and they have to struggle to come up with some answer that isn't "money"

It's like when they ask famous actors why they decided to participate in some shitty movie:
"So... Anthony Hopkins, please explain in detail all the things that impressed such an experienced actor as yourself in the script for the latest shitty Transformers movie?"
 
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Bernkastel

Ask me about my fanboy energy!
LOL, it's always weird when devs gets asked this question and they have to struggle to come up with some answer that isn't "money"
Its always weird that random forum posters have to struggle to say its because of money or PR, because they dont want to justify something not fit into their story.
shitty movie
If Xbox Series X is a shitty movie, then PS5 is a stupid K-Drama.
 

sobaka770

Banned
Its always weird that random forum posters have to struggle to say its because of money or PR, because they dont want to justify something not fit into their story.

If Xbox Series X is a shitty movie, then PS5 is a stupid K-Drama.

He's not wrong though. The guy literally says he CAN'T TALK about PS5. Therefore it's obvious he's under NDA which means exclusive contract. Maybe PS5 version could also achieve parity with PC? He doesn't say otherwise, he simply can't talk about it.
I also don't buy the whole parity with PC anyway. Unless you only port your game without any optimisation, obviously a 5k$ PC will crush the game on higher settings and framerate.

It's classic marketing PR, same as Unreal demo being awesome with power of PS5 SSD. The consoles will be very powerful. Scorn looks cute, need to say gameplay though.
 

sobaka770

Banned

I don't follow your comment. All I'm saying is that these threads about anecdotal claims of console power are making me feel old. The guy literally has a contract with MS and an NDA, what he says is a big pile of nothing. None of this really matters. If Microsoft gets good games it will sell the console, if not - PS5 will decimate it. The whole power struggle is mostly fumes.
 
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Bernkastel

Ask me about my fanboy energy!
I don't follow your comment. All I'm saying is that these threads about anecdotal claims of console power are making me feel old. The guy literally has a contract with MS and an NDA, what he says is a big pile of nothing. None of this really matters. If Microsoft gets good games it will sell the console, if not - PS5 will decimate it. The whole power struggle is mostly fumes.
Because he also has a professional career. He cant go "PS5 sucks, cant run my game". He is being subtle.
 
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Fbh

Member
Its always weird that random forum posters have to struggle to say its because of money or PR, because they dont want to justify something not fit into their story.

Yeah you're right, it's probably not the thing that's literally behind 99% of third party exclusivity deals.
They totally decided to just release on 1 out of 2 next gen consoles for no monetary gain and only because they weren't sure Ps5 was going to be able to achieve parity with the PC version that requires a Radeon HD7870, 8gb of Ram and a i3-2100
 
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kyoji

Member
We have already been through this, the parity he is talking about is comparing to current gen consoles, it seems they were working on all next gen platforms until ms approached them with a deal to go exclusive, at least for the launch. Its all in the interview they did after the xbox games reveal a few weeks ago.

This is just spin taken out of context, in this recent interview he goes on to talk about acheiving parity with pc and 60fps or whatever, and then goes on to say he cant discuss ps5. These are conflicting thoughts, read the first interview the parity is with releasing cross generation.


“Microsoft had some messaging ,” Peklar told us. “People expected multi-million AAA production games to show off next-gen visuals and, most importantly, gameplay showcases.”
Despite this, Ebb Software’s Scorn immediately captured the intrigue of Inside Xbox viewers. It may not be a AAA title from a big name studio, but that’s what was so impressive about Microsoft’s showcase: indie devs and AA studios are able to create titles that rival even the biggest budget games with next-gen technology.
Scorn’s Xbox Series X exclusivity deal is a very recent development, Peklar tells us. “We’ve been talking to Microsoft for some time now, sending them various builds, etc. The actual deal happened quite recently and it was realized in a timely manner.”
...
“We didn’t [want to bring Scorn to current-gen consoles] because we want our game to be played at 60FPS. That would be close to impossible without big sacrifices. Next-gen is about responsiveness, smoothness and a lot less time wasting. The problem with these features is that they are not easy to sell in videos or screenshots.”
With so much focus on Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 revolving around the move from mechanical hard drives to solid state storage, Peklar believes that the biggest change between this generation and the next is on the pure power afforded by the CPU at the heart of Series X.
“Everyone is touting the SSD as the next big thing, and yes SSDs will help a lot with loading and moving assets, but the biggest culprit that is creating problems in the current generation is the CPU,” Peklar explained to us. “That’s where the biggest difference compared to current generation will come from.”
 
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geordiemp

Member
Because he also has a professional career. He cant go "PS5 sucks, cant run my game". He is being subtle.

They ran out of money, 193 K does not go far to feed 20 people. I think its good MS is funding such start ups and making games happen, better than buying timed exclusivity which sucks all round.
 

kyoji

Member
Because he also has a professional career. He cant go "PS5 sucks, cant run my game". He is being subtle.
Hes not going to say that because it isnt true. You are the one trying to say that. they talked about the reason they went exclusive in the very article you posted a few weeks ago and were trying to bait in.
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member

Just talking shite because he has no plans to release on PS5 right now. The difference in power between these two boxes is even smaller than PS4 Pro and Xbox One X, so we're absolutely not going to see scenarios where graphical changes like rendering resolution can't be made to a game to make it run just about the same on one platform as the other.

You'll be able to have better FPS and resolution on PC if you want, so "parity" is already not a thing.
 
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Bernkastel

Ask me about my fanboy energy!
Yeah you're right, it's probably not the thing that's literally behind 99% of third party exclusivity deals.
Hes not going to say that because it isnt true. You are the one trying to say that. they talked about the reason they went exclusive in the very article you posted a few weeks ago and were trying to bait in.
They may drop ray tracing on Xbox Series X because they barely hit their performance goal. Xbox Series X seems to have already pushed their game to the limit.
 

93xfan

Banned
You mean PC?

Obviously he’s talking within the console space. Not everyone wants to spend a fortune on a high end PC that will require a keyboard and mouse to be competitive in most games.

I personally don’t want a gaming PC for many reasons. For me it’s going to be a Switch and one of these consoles.
 
That just means they're limiting the potential of the game on PC.
No. No it doesn't.

You have no idea what the bar was for their vision for their game. Every game during development has a target in terms of visuals and the graphical techniques used to reach it.

Every team has a collective, constrained, set of skills. Those skills are employed with time. That time is paid for with money. The team in question could very well have hit their potential limit in terms of what visuals they could reach given the resources available to them. It's not like you can just slot money into a dev PC's drive and the game incrementally looks and runs better. You've also got to have the skill to be able to do it, along with time, along with money.

So, it very well may be that what they achieved is the best they could do with what they have at the moment and still within the boundaries of their vision, therefore they aren't limiting the potential of the game on PC, since they may have done all they could as it is, regardless of an Xbox version. And the version they achieved happens to be easier for them to get running on Xbox right now. Whether that is due to a familiar dev environment or what, I don't know.
 
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