Home Gaming Bad console ports on PC is “disrespectful” says Deus Ex: Mankind divided creative director

Bad console ports on PC is “disrespectful” says Deus Ex: Mankind divided creative director

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MD

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is coming in February next year, and will be tackling some pretty heavy themes, just hopefully not in a heavy-handed, preachy way. The last Deus Ex game, Human Revolution was excellent, as was its PC port, which was handled by one of the better porting studios on this or any other planet: Nixxes – the same folk who ported the last one to PC, along with 2013’s Tomb Raider and the recent Thief reboot.

The bad news then is that yes, it’s going to be a port – but the good news is that Eidos and Square-Enix know that shoddy PC ports of console games just isn’t good enough. In fact, it’s downright disrespectful.

Speaking at the New York Comic Con this weekend, Executive Game Director Jean-Francois Dugas said that putting out straight up console ports on PC is disrespectfuladding that PC versions should have all manner of features not available on console. The PC version is a distinct and separate thing, he asserts saying that it’s “super important that the PC version is treated as such.”

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided will be one of the games being released next year that utilises that new-fangled DirectX 12 and AMD’s TressFX 3.0.

After the absolute mess that was Mortal Kombat X and Arkham Knights PC ports, I think developers and publishers have to be a little more selective in how they handle PC ports, and who they choose to do them.

Given that Steam Refunds are now in place, and recent UK legislature allows consumers to return games that aren’t up to scratch, and the absolute mess that was Mortal Kombat X and Arkham Knights PC ports, I think developers and publishers have to be a little more selective in how they handle PC ports, and who they choose to do them.

And it seems, after that particular debacle, that developers and publishers are going to be vociferously reassuring PC gamers that their games won’t launch broken. With Nixxes’ previous port successes, I’d say that in this case, we have little to worry about. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is out in Febraury next year. It won’t be piss-yellow.

Last Updated: October 12, 2015

32 Comments

  1. Grand Admiral Chief

    October 12, 2015 at 08:39

    This is one thing that really gripes me, how can you develop ON a PC for a console, then port it back?

    Reply

    • Geoffrey Tim

      October 12, 2015 at 08:45

      Yeah, but youre developing in a pc using apis and tools not really made to run on a pc. This gen, the Ps4 is the top selling, highest earning platform for AAA blockbusters, so it makes fiscal and common sense to use that as the base platform – and then port across, adding or removing features as necessary.

      Reply

      • Grand Admiral Chief

        October 12, 2015 at 08:53

        Using those APIs (yes, that is how you type it without it looking like urination :P) one would think that they would rather use a specific one for each platform, instead of going through the additional development time for the (hopefully) successful porting of said game.

        Surely that makes better fiscal and common sense.

        In any case, when you have a bad port, or a bug infested game, the amount you lose out on will be significantly more, not to mention the image of the company, than spending a bit more on proper development in the first case.

        Who gets the bad name? In most times NOT the ShittyPortCompanyX, but the actual company who is making the game.

        So, in tl;dr, I hope this game does not suck

        Reply

        • Deceased

          October 12, 2015 at 10:33

          “This game SHALL not suck”

          *I fixed it for you*

          Reply

  2. Alien Emperor Trevor

    October 12, 2015 at 08:45

    For me, Square have a great track record when it comes to their ports – DX:HR, Thief, Tomb Raider, Hitman: Absolution, Sleeping Dogs all ran flawlessly.

    And if you think about it, it’s something you shouldn’t have to praise a company for, yet here we are.

    Reply

    • Geoffrey Tim

      October 12, 2015 at 08:46

      All of their porting done by the rather smashing chaps at Nixxes. Not High Voltage. Not Iron Galaxy. Nixxes. If a port is done by them or Bluepoint, it’s probably great.

      Reply

  3. Commander JJ of the Normandy

    October 12, 2015 at 08:57

    Listen up WB (among many others)

    Reply

  4. BacchusZA

    October 12, 2015 at 09:07

    This.

    Somebody please print out this page, like a thousand times. Then bind it in a sturdy hard cover book.

    And then fly to France, catch a taxi to the Ubisoft offices.

    And then proceed to beat them around the head with said tome until they GET THE FUCKING MESSAGE.

    Thanks,

    A traumatised GR: FS and Watchdogs victim.

    Reply

    • Commander JJ of the Normandy

      October 12, 2015 at 09:08

      What about Ubisoft Montreal?

      Reply

      • BacchusZA

        October 12, 2015 at 09:10

        They’re Canadian, not French, so there’s no need for a beating.

        And besides, *their* pc ports – Far Cry & so on – seem to work just fine.

        EDIT

        Hold on, Ubi Montreal are responsible for Watch Dogs, aren’t they? Hmmm,…….. maybe wave the tome of “How to do a PC port right” threateningly in their direction till they apologise and fix it.

        Reply

        • Commander JJ of the Normandy

          October 12, 2015 at 09:13

          I’d probably end up staying there if I was sent anyway.
          Because UbiArts

          Reply

          • BacchusZA

            October 12, 2015 at 09:16

            Heh if I went, I’d probably not make it past Edmonton.

            ‘Cause, you know, Bioware.

            I think those guys have made most, if not pretty much ALL of my favourie games that I’ve ever played.

          • Commander JJ of the Normandy

            October 12, 2015 at 09:17

            Also true. They’ve made some real gems.

          • BacchusZA

            October 12, 2015 at 09:25

            KOTOR, Mass Effect, SWTOR, Baldurs Gate and Icewind Dale too, so to speak (Bioware grew out of Black Isle). And I’m sure there are some I’m forgetting.

        • oVg

          October 12, 2015 at 09:51

          French Canadian 😛

          Reply

      • Grand Admiral Chief

        October 12, 2015 at 09:10

        UbiArts FTW

        Reply

        • Commander JJ of the Normandy

          October 12, 2015 at 09:12

          Always. I’ll go work there any day.

          Reply

    • Grand Admiral Chief

      October 12, 2015 at 09:10

      I had fun reading this, thanks

      Reply

      • BacchusZA

        October 12, 2015 at 09:13

        You’re welcome 🙂

        Reply

  5. Greylingad[CNFRMD]

    October 12, 2015 at 09:19

    This is the right mindset behind delivering a high quality product, knowing that when you develop something to work well on all systems is the way to go, hiring the correct company to do said port places an immense amount of responsibility on the porting company, if they don’t deliver, your company will suffer, not them… I’m glad they’ve taken this stance, after all, if you’re not satisfying your customers, you’re nothing but disrespecting them…

    Reply

  6. oVg

    October 12, 2015 at 09:31

    off topic. All you Uncharted Virgins who were fighting over the last copies of the trilogy at the store on Friday as I was Walking out 🙂 IT WAS WELL WORTH IT. I can now see what all the fuss was about.

    Uncharted 1 was like a 7 hour dress rehearsal. Bare in mind the game came out just after Gears of War. Well ahead of its time although I found the enemies to be annoying bullet sponges.

    Uncharted 2 BLEW MY BRAINS OUT, It would not let up, some of the set pieces went on for like 30 minutes. AMAZING GAME and I rate it higher than the Tomb Raider reboot.

    Uncharted 3 IM HOOOOOKED The opening in London with that crazy Cockney Jason Stathan dude made me laugh my arse off. As for the Graphics? Its better than TLOU remastered.

    Greatness from Small Beginnings 🙂

    10/10

    P.S. That Frame Rate is dope 🙂

    Reply

    • oVg

      October 12, 2015 at 09:35

      The lighting in 3 is amazing

      Reply

    • Rock789

      October 12, 2015 at 09:49

      It is a truly epic trilogy! I need to get stuck in sometime – and I’m really looking forward to playing all 3 again.

      Reply

      • oVg

        October 12, 2015 at 09:57

        The graphics on the first game has dated a bit, but the other 2 especially 3 are PS4 level. I just hope the 60fps of the trilogy does not ruin U4s 30fps.

        Reply

    • Rock789

      October 12, 2015 at 09:50

      You finished the first 2 already?

      Reply

      • oVg

        October 12, 2015 at 09:55

        Ya, I could not put it down. It took me 9 hours on Saturday. The scenery and vistas just keep going on and on and on and on. How the PS3 managed to store that memory is beyond me. Here I am thinking, they have reached the goal, time for the end credits… NOPE lets try a totally new environment and Vista to close the story. The budget was crazy when compared to number 1.

        THE TRAIN 🙂

        Reply

        • Rock789

          October 12, 2015 at 09:59

          Nice one. Yeah, Uncharted 2 was always my favourite of the 3. It’s just that damn good! And yeah – the TRAIN!! 🙂 Slightly disappointing end-game, but other than that, it was great!

          Looking forward to getting stuck in again. Just gotta finish Mad Max first (so far in, don’t wanna stop now and then come back later only to have forgotten how everything works… Finished every side-quest, so now completely focused on the main story. My Max is so OP now, coz of the upgrades, the fights are pure fisticuff fun as he now has all the skills.)

          Reply

          • oVg

            October 12, 2015 at 10:03

            Mmmmm, I need to give it a shot, that and Batman, but after 180hours of 60fps in MGSV I might find it jarring going back down to 30fps.

            ALSO top tip when playing the Uncharted trilogy make sure your aiming sensitivity is turned up to full, It completely changed the game play. Why the default is where it is is stupid. Thanks to the frame rate I was achieving more head shots.

          • Rock789

            October 12, 2015 at 10:06

            Thanks for the tip – will remember that. Always prefer taking ’em out with headshots. 🙂

  7. Memmud Treblex

    December 7, 2016 at 17:35

    lol

    Reply

  8. Bull Daggin

    May 11, 2017 at 01:34

    Haha damn, coming back to this article in 2017 makes you look really stupid. The PC port is STILL broken as of 5/10/17. This is hilarious.

    Reply

  9. lol

    August 3, 2020 at 17:13

    pc port still sucks in 2020. As soon as the word “port” was thrown around it should have been obviuos that it would shit the treadmill like an old man with a loose anus. even on an ssd the load times are loooooong but thank god that we wont see bad pc ports as much anymore. this sucks knowing the original deus ex was praised to be the best pc game ever square enix shouldnt have deus ex they have not done it justice as the actual game is itself pretty shit interms of story and characters but the gameplay bits are human rev but improved.

    Reply

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