This weekend saw Ubisoft Massive’s The Division go in to closed beta, giving the public at large a chance to try out the company’s shared, open-world shooter. I spent a fair bit of time in both consoles’ beta, mainly as an exercise to see which platform to buy the game on. If you’re a single console owner, there’s no decision necessary, but those lucky enough to have both current gen consoles have a tougher choice to make.
I’d expected, given the historical performance difference between the two consoles that the choice would be easy, and that I’d be playing the game on PlayStation 4.
Now, I’m not so sure. Using my untrained, possibly degenerating eyeballs, I found the PlayStation 4 version to run, perhaps, just a little smoother with the tiniest hint less screen tearing, but beyond that, I couldn’t really tell them apart.
I’m not the only one. Using their suite of analysis tools, the chaps at Digital Foundry hardly found any differences to get excited about.
“We’ve dug deep into both PS4 and Xbox One betas, and ultimately the answer to this lies in the game’s performance, rather than visuals. Both are capped at 30fps, and each holds strong at this number around Manhattan’s most hotly-contested zones. Main story missions run without a hitch on PS4, while “go to X and defeat Y” style side-missions run equally well – on Sony’s machine we encounter no spikes in the target 33.3ms render time needed to hit this frame-rate.
Xbox One is almost as solid too, with just minor issues. You get a near-locked 30fps, but in blowing the front doors during the Madison Field Hospital main mission, it shows a 28fps lurch downward not seen on the rival console. An adaptive v-sync is revealed at this point, and with screen-tear kicking in for a block of frames on our graph. But this is a one-off, and in scouring The Division for any other hits to performance on this machine, all side-missions come out at a flawless 30fps, and it’s only a later shootout in a diner that flags a second instance of a performance drop.”
They perform just about as well as each other, with each running at 1080p, capped at 30fps. The Xbox One may have a few more frae drops, but they hardly get in the way.
“Otherwise the two are identical in the other key technical facets; PS4 and Xbox One push a full native 1920×1080 resolution, backed by a perceptible match for the SMAA x1 technique used on PC. This is accompanied by a temporal pass to clear up flicker on camera pans, as evidenced by a light ghosting artefact trailing behind objects (which should be undetectable by eye, unless you grab a frame mid-motion and zoom in close).”
The choice then, comes in which controller you prefer, and where you think your friends will be playing. This is still a tough choice; most of my friends will be playing on the PlayStation 4, though many will be on the Xbox One. I prefer the Xbox Ones controller in general, but the PlayStation’s 4 integrated speaker adds a dash of immersion that the Xbox One version is missing.
With 6 weeks to go until the game is out, there’s likely to be further optimisation too. And of course, if you’re packing a suitably specced PC, then the choice is obvious.
Last Updated: February 1, 2016
HairyEwok
February 1, 2016 at 08:11
Which console….. The PC console of course. Ok all serious, the PS4 graphics look cold, the Xbox One looks warm and more colourful. But then again that could just be the dynamic day/night time that’s causing it.
The Grand Admiral Chief Prime
February 1, 2016 at 08:34
I saw the Alienware Alpha console this weekend.
While the specs are quite impressive, I’m just not sold on it
Hammersteyn
February 1, 2016 at 08:39
What if they sold Final Fantasy on the Alienware console. Two non sales makes it sold?
Captain JJ 'saurus
February 1, 2016 at 08:43
lol
Hammersteyn
February 1, 2016 at 08:37
Like Geoff said though. Depends on friends. One thing I found playing the Beta is that the game gets a bit repetitive. Go here shoot some guys, go there shoot more guys. Oh sure there’s loot, but this feels like it’s been designed to be played with people. Me and @ir0nseraph:disqus played a few missions on hard. That’s where the game starts to shine, when teamwork becomes a must
Ir0nseraph
February 1, 2016 at 08:46
Yeah that was good and hard after a good braai , a wee bit extra difficulty 🙂
I just hope there is enough good content to keep us busy for a while, and we aren’t forced into the darkzone too early.
Hammersteyn
February 1, 2016 at 09:08
you had such hiccups XD
Ir0nseraph
February 1, 2016 at 09:18
Yeah don’t remind me.
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
February 1, 2016 at 08:47
That’s the thing with this game, it seems like a team oriented focus, but the moment you strip that, it’s off to much less acclaim…
RinceThis
February 1, 2016 at 09:10
YES. It is repetitive, which is why it’s boring as f*ck 😛
Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)
February 1, 2016 at 13:48
Aye, I’ll probably get it on PS4, because Hammer is a damn fine co-op partner.
Hammersteyn
February 1, 2016 at 14:13
Aww shucks.
HvR
February 1, 2016 at 09:14
Definitely day/night cycle.
At the start thought the Xbox footage looks dull and grey then it switched around for most of the video.
Hammersteyn
February 1, 2016 at 08:17
I uploaded virus data to teh cloudz in the game so XBOX obviously.
HairyEwok
February 1, 2016 at 08:30
You gave this man the virus?
https://49.media.tumblr.com/a70687aec923c733f35f1a4d13eed64c/tumblr_n2gh1xuRCV1tvowr1o1_500.gif
Hammersteyn
February 1, 2016 at 08:34
Only if depression can be transmitted via a virus.
RinceThis
February 1, 2016 at 09:10
xD
Captain JJ 'saurus
February 1, 2016 at 09:16
If you played Arkham Knight on pc then it seems possible.
Captain JJ 'saurus
February 1, 2016 at 08:42
NinPlayBox!
Lardus-For the Emperor!
February 1, 2016 at 08:54
Which console to get it on? Why, the one you own of course!
Hammersteyn
February 1, 2016 at 09:07
XD
Captain JJ 'saurus
February 1, 2016 at 09:15
Damn.
BakedBagel
February 1, 2016 at 09:02
Obvious choice is Obvious
Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)
February 1, 2016 at 13:45
Wii U? Too soon? Uh.. too late?
Efrt
February 2, 2016 at 22:47
Xbox has exclusive or timed DLC don’t they?