[Update 2] How/why are console gamers satisfied with 30 fps?

[Aaron Sylvester]

Over the last 15+ years most consoles have been aiming for 30fps mark and I don't see that trend changing for the next decade to come. Ubisoft just announced that AC Unity will run at 900p and be locked to 30fps on PS4 and XBone for "platform equality", which was hilarious. Even better was their attempt to justify/explain that, but nothing can answer the question of why current-gen consoles (approximately 3-5x more powerful) are running at the same framerate and barely higher resolution than last-gen.

But in any case, it would be foolish to blame Ubisoft (or any developer) for making such a decision - after all they are businesses first. Console gamers have clearly spoken with their wallets and reviews/feedback "we don't care if the game runs at 30fps or 60fps".

Of course devs/publishers are more than happy to do exactly that. In gameplay trailers, video reviews, etc framerate is not a factor and can go completely ignored, it's all about visuals and resolution. Even in reviews the framerate of console games is rarely criticized, praised or even mentioned unless it keeps dipping down to 20fps (lol?). I know for a fact that the PC crowd is quick to CRUCIFY any game that dares lock itself to 30fps, we've seen that happen.

So my question to the console gamers of the Escapist is this - how are you happy with playing games at 30fps? Is there really no difference playing at 60, or is that difference really so negligible that you would prefer better resolution/visuals?

Update: Well lookie here, Ubisoft had more to say...
http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/viva-la-resoluci-n-assassin-s-creed-dev-thinks-industry-is-dropping-60-fps-standard-1268241

"At Ubisoft for a long time we wanted to push 60 fps. I don't think it was a good idea because you don't gain that much from 60 fps and it doesn't look like the real thing. It's a bit like The Hobbit movie, it looked really weird.
"And in other games it's the same - like the Rachet and Clank series [where it was dropped]. So I think collectively in the video game industry we're dropping that standard because it's hard to achieve, it's twice as hard as 30fps, and its not really that great in terms of rendering quality of the picture and the image."

So even if the hardware is capable of 60fps, they will keep it locked to 30 to make it feel more "cinematic". But really it's because it seems most gamers are very happy with 30fps, which is disappointing as far as progress goes.

Update 2: Wow, what is going on? Now we've got Evil Within...
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/478493/the-evil-within-on-pc-is-locked-at-30fps/

Bethesda has confirmed that the PC version of The Evil Within will be locked at 30 frames per second.
According to the publisher, the PC version of the game will be identical to the console versions, and as such will feature the same frame rate.
Bethesda says this was due to the wishes of the game's director, Shinji Mikami, who wanted all versions to look and feel the same.

I really hope this isn't becoming a thing.

Easy way to find out if you can see the difference between 30fps and 60fps: http://frames-per-second.appspot.com

 

[Erttheking]

Because I quite simply don't care. Graphics come in dead last when it comes to making a game enjoyable. FPS fall into that category for me. I don't care what the FPS are on a game so long as its fun to play.

 

[tippy2k2]

First post nails it.

I don't care

Zero care factor

Care-o-meter reading record lows

I'll take, "Care". Survey says: X

Knock Knock. Who's there? Care. Care who? Don't care.

Is there a difference between 30 and 60 FPS? Probably.
Do I care about that difference? See above.

If the game runs smoothly and the game looks good, I could not care less about your precious FPS. Although I do find it quite entertaining that the only people who seem to care about what FPS a game on a console will run are PC gamers who won't be playing said console...

edit: Holy shit, this is some of the funniest stuff I've seen in a while from a few people here.

Yessa masta! Us console folk jis a'simpel folk whom justa needs a strong masta likes the PC playas to show us the ignoance o'our ways! It CAN'T be thasa we do't care (no matta hows much we tells you othawise); we juss a ignoran an stoopid simpa folk! Toos much technolothings confuse us somethin fierce!

Do people actually believe what they write or are they just messing with me?

 

[Erttheking]

Because I quite simply don't care. Graphics come in dead last when it comes to making a game enjoyable. FPS fall into that category for me. I don't care what the FPS are on a game so long as its fun to play.

What, and virtually doubling your potential reaction time doesn't do that?
For games that rely on fast reflexes, like twitch shooters, DMC style brawlers, fighting games, and high speed racing games, a higher framerate is virtually mandatory.

I imagine that attempting to play Metal Gear Rising at only 30 FPS would be a lot more frustrating than it would be at a smooth 60.

*Shrugs* Revengance played just fine on my 360. Don't really see what the problem is.

 

[Roxas1359]

Allow me to answer the OP with another question: why do some PC gamers care so much about what others think about instead of acknowledging that people have differing views and just wanna play some games?
Seriously, the only people who ever seem to make threads that devolve in Console vs PC are the ones I question the most because in all honesty, do you even really care? Or are you looking for some self gratification?

Honestly I can now tell the difference between 30 FPS and 60 FPS, and I don't care either way. I adjust just fine to it, and it doesn't take long for others to adjust as well. Same thing goes for the whole 720/900/1080p stuff. I play old games in 480i all the time, and don't care about the graphics for it. But people seem to keep asking why as if I'm some sort of weird being who god forbid loves to play video games and doesn't care too much about graphics or framerate. Certain games do need a higher framerate, but not all of them and as Insomniac has seen it doesn't effect sales too much. It's the whole reason why they stopped making Ratchet and Clank games in 60 FPS after A Crack in Time. I have always said, I'd rather have a stable framerate than one that can reach 60/90/120 but then can go down to 15. Stability is better than higher numbers.

 

[Erttheking]

Because I quite simply don't care. Graphics come in dead last when it comes to making a game enjoyable. FPS fall into that category for me. I don't care what the FPS are on a game so long as its fun to play.

What, and virtually doubling your potential reaction time doesn't do that?
For games that rely on fast reflexes, like twitch shooters, DMC style brawlers, fighting games, and high speed racing games, a higher framerate is virtually mandatory.

I imagine that attempting to play Metal Gear Rising at only 30 FPS would be a lot more frustrating than it would be at a smooth 60.

*Shrugs* Revengance played just fine on my 360. Don't really see what the problem is.

That's because it was running at 60 FPS on consoles as well as PC. Imagine playing it with half of the frames cut out.
Or if you have a PS4, grab the remaster of The Last of Us, play for a while without changing anything, then go into the options and lock the framerate to 30 fps. But if you can't do that either, play a level of MGR and the DmC reboot back to back and see how your reaction time changes and see if you can tell which one seems smoother.

I think the fact you had to spell it out for me that it was 60 fps and not 30 fps should tell you how little impact that fps has on me.

 

[Prime_Hunter_H01]

FPS sensitivity is a learned skill. And really it depends on the person. But hang around the right people and it seems common and you only see the "others" that don't care.

I like to make a car comparison, A car guy is like a heavy pc gamer, because of their interests they have trained them self to see and feel ever small change in performance and it really affect them, like the smoothness of the ride or the sound of a good engine, while an normal person get what they want and will only see/feel an extreme change. And its the same with FPS, 30 is smooth to everyone who hasn't trained them self to see it because of an interest in it.

So the sentiment stands, if they don't care they don't see it.

The difference is only major to those who care, and can even see it.

And for me I see barely a difference unless is took a minute to really stare at the 30vs60 comparison website before I saw a minuscule difference

 

[ohnoitsabear]

I mostly game on PC. I have no idea what framerate my games are running at, because I can't tell most of the time. I can tell when I can easily compare it (example: in Mario Kart 8 switching between 1 and 2 player, which is 60 fps, and 3 or 4, which is 30), or if a game is running at an inconsistent framerate. There are also some very fast games where a high framerate is important, but for most of those games getting to 60 fps is a priority on consoles anyway.

Look, the point isn't that 30 fps is better, or that it can't be a big deal for some people (I've heard of some people that are prone to motion sickness in sub-60 fps games, although I don't know how common that is). The point is that for a lot of people, 60 fps really isn't a big deal, especially if they do most of their gaming at 30.

 

[MysticSlayer]

I've often switched between 30 FPS and 60 FPS games, and if I play a game on both PC and consoles, I'm often treated to both experiences in the same game. To me, it makes almost no difference between the two. There's no noticeable visual difference. At most, there's only difference is the feel of the game, and even then it takes very little adjusting for me, so I don't really see a point in getting worked up about frame rate.

Oh, and to the person who is currently thinking about "proving" me wrong on the visual front by posting a link to that website that compares 60 FPS and 30 FPS side-by-side: I've been the website and many more like it. I still stand by my statement. Don't waste your time.

 

[Rozalia1]

Allow me to answer the OP with another question: why do some PC gamers care so much about what others think about instead of acknowledging that people have differing views and just wanna play some games?
Seriously, the only people who ever seem to make threads that devolve in Console vs PC are the ones I question the most because in all honesty, do you even really care? Or are you looking for some self gratification?

Pretty much should be an auto response whenever one of these many type of threads pop up.

 

[Elfgore]

Hey look, another "I play PC, therefore am better than others" thread. *rolls eyes*

I'm satisfied because I can't notice a fucking difference. Sure they is a difference, but guess who can't notice it? *raises hand* Even with a competent gaming laptop, I still buy a majority of games on the console.

 

[Roxas1359]

Pretty much should be an auto response whenever one of these many type of threads pop up.

You can copy and paste it if you want. In my 5 years of being here, I have a few of those actually saved from other users. XD

Hey look, another "I play PC, therefore am better than others" thread. *rolls eyes*

I've noticed that they seem to go in trends, usually with one starting off a slew of other ones. Then again, the same thing can be said about other types of threads as well.

 

[Ambient_Malice]

Because while 60 fps is better than 30fps, and 75fps is better than 60fps, and 120fps is better than 75fps, a game running at 30fps is by no means broken.

30fps input lag is NOWHERE near as crippling as people love to pretend. Especially since controllers lack the briskness of a mouse and keyboard. 30fps feels less "tight" than 60fps, but this by no means makes Mario 64 unacceptably fluid and responsive. (FPS games, especially on PC, are another kettle of fish.)

Ideally, 60fps should be a baseline. But weak CPUs in 8th gen consoles mean this is impractical.

 

[TheSapphireKnight]

You can't really miss what you have not had before. I would imagine it is harder to notice the difference when certain between 30-60 if you compare them with separate games.

Take Halo and CoD, both series have so far have stayed at 30 and 60fps respectively for a good while now. FPS is not generally the first thing people notice when going from game to game. I've enjoyed plenty of Halo over the years, but the framerate was never something that jumped out at me even going higher framerate games because that was how it has always been.

But oh man, when I first saw Halo 2 anniversary running at 60fps(well around 50 on twitch), it was immediately noticeable after only seeing 30fps youtube videos.

On the other end I imagine the vast majority of CoD players don't actively take notice of the higher framerate. However, I would be willing to bet if the fps was suddenly locked at 30, the playerbase would definitely take notice and more than likely they would be a little irritated.

That said it makes doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me that gameplay oriented people don't care more about framerate. While framerate is part of the 'visual' package, there are also tangible benefits to gameplay

 

[WouldYouKindly]

Hey look, another "I play PC, therefore am better than others" thread. *rolls eyes*

I satisfied because I can't notice a fucking difference. Sure they is a difference, but guess who can't notice it? *raises hand* Even with a competent gaming laptop, I still buy a majority of games on the console.

Competent gaming laptop? No such thing!

Spoiler

that was a joke

It matters to us because input lag is a bit more severe with M+KB. 30FPS can kind of fuck you over sometimes.

There's also the matter of jutteriness when the framerate dips. It kind of takes me out of the experience. I'd take a stable 30 FPS above a higher but variable framerate, but there really should be better performances here. Seriously, tone down some of the higher end graphics options to achieve a better framerate. It's not like I run a top of the line machine, so it's exactly what I do when I want more frames.