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[Vashetti]

So all three current-gen consoles have released - Wii U, PS4 and XB1, and we're seeing resolutions of 720p, 792p, 900p, 1080p, etc., with 1080p/60fps being the ceiling.

In five to six years time (just a guess), what are we expecting for the next-generation of consoles?

Sony and MS' (not too familiar with Nintendo and the Wii U) approach with the PS4 and XB1 was to use mobile-esque components to keep power consumption and heat generation down. Will mobile tech be advanced enough in 5/6 years to make 4K a viable standard for these upcoming consoles?

I think it will be safe to say we'll finally have 1080p/60fps as a minimum standard across the board. 4KTV adoption is increasing yearly, I've been surprised by how quickly prices are falling to consumer acceptable levels. Consumers are going to want to have gaming hardware that matches the capabilities of their screen -- can these consoles afford not to support native 4K when PC components will almost certainly be able to provide affordable 4K gaming in 5/6 years time?

If not, will we be seeing 1440p as a healthy middle-ground?

For reference:

1920x1080 = 2,073,600 pixels
2650x1440 = 3,686,400 pixels
3840x2160* = 8,294,400 pixels

*there are varying resolutions that people label as 4K/Ultra HD, but the agreed upon standard for TV and media going forward is 3840x2160

What say you GAF, what kind of jump can we expect in 5/6 years? Can developers even afford to develop native 4K games when costs are ballooning now? What state can we even expect gaming to be in 5/6 years?

 

[EchoChamber]

The next step is post in the gaming forum...
OT?: 4k i think that is more likely

 

[archnemesis]

It will take a long time for 4K TVs to become standard and I don't expect consoles to make the transition before movies.

1920x1080 with more effects and better post-processing is more likely.

 

[Barzul]

Wrong section. I don't think we'll ever go above 1080p as developers will want to squeeze in more and better effects.

 

[amar212]

1080@60 for every game and insane effects would be sufficient for next 10 years

 

[Vashetti]

Oh god wrong section.

Sorry!

 

[rudieboy77]

Consoles still seem to struggle with 1080p, but so does broadcast TV.

 

[Whitechocolatekrispies]

VR ... BELIEEEEEEVVVEEEEE

 

[Horse]

I suspect we will be staying at 1080p for a long time, TV's need to catch up first.

 

[CadetMahoney]

I doubt 1080p 60fps would be the norm next gen either.

They will just add extra effects/particles to make things look nicer in screenshots but demand too much from the cut-throat priced hardware so it will be target 30fps.

 

[Arkos]

You have stepped into the twilight zone

 

[Derp1na]

Give me real-time ray tracing or give me death.

Playstation 10?

 

[Woffls]

I'd like for the next-step in current gen visuals to not be reduced to numbers.

 

[Shiina]

1080/60

I'd like for the next-step in current gen visuals to not be reduced to numbers.

That's what they're doing right now. Instead of getting 1080/60 they're giving us, err, more particles?

 

[1.21Gigawatts]

60FPS will always be a choice.
Even if these consoles were 10 times as powerful as they are now, some devs would still opt for better visuals over 60FPS.

I also don't think 4k TVs will catch on in the next few years. The effect isn't apparant enough. Most TVs are somewhere in between 32" and 55", and a normal viewing distance the difference a 4k TV would make isn't that big.
I don't think 4k will catch on like 1080p did.


So I guess 1080p will be the standard for many years to come and also the next gen of consoles(if there is one).

 

[Backfoggen]

4k will be what 1080p is this gen.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Smellovision imo

 

[Anion]

In 5 years...4k could be standard. 5 years is a long time.
I would hope 4K would be like the 1080p of today.

 

[thekenta]

Since they can't even hit 1080p consistently this generation, I think it will be 1080p/60.

 

[Wolves Evolve]

I think it will be safe to say we'll finally have 1080p/60fps as a minimum standard across the board.

It is not safe to assume that at all.

At the end of this gen, you will see 768p games, 720p games, 1080p games, 30fps games, 60fps games, unlocked frame rates, capped frame rates.

The new normal is "no normal"

4K adoption, even if it rises and rises like HDTV did (it can't, and won't - and I LOVE 4K and think it will be huge eventually), will not fundamentally alter the mechanical questions of game production this generation. One or two games on console will experiment with higher than 1080p - but you may as well find it's a Nintendo game as a Sony or Microsoft one.

 

[GingerNathan]

As hardware increases in power, developers ambition increases (and rightly so), so I think we still be faced with a compromise between developers realising their vision and the highest frame rate and resolution they can get away with.

 

[Prophet Steve]

I can see no reason that they would go for 60 FPS suddenly, as some people seem here to think. Extra power seems to go other things, not the framerate. At the end of this gen we'll probably be in the same situation as previous one, with plenty of games having trouble hitting 30 FPS.

Maybe if Avatar 2 with its higher framerate makes it more popular for the masses things might change, but I doubt so.

 

[Vashetti]

Can a mod please move this to Gaming?

 

[Neo C.]

Marketing will push 4K, but in reality we will probably play sub 4K and 30fps, but with more effects.

 

[Sir Blaming]

I would like to see them hit 1080p 60 frame first.
Then 1440p should be a good point.

 

[Anth0ny]

People were expecting 1080p/60fps standard going into PS4/Xbone.

It will never happen. Devs will always sacrifice image quality and frame rate to get extra effects in there.

We will see sub-1080p/30fps games on PS5.

 

[jstripes]

Give me real-time ray tracing or give me death.

Playstation 10?

But will the games be better?

 

[Esch]

The next step is extinction, and then only PC and mobile I guess.

 

[Scrooged]

4k is a pipe dream for the foreseeable future. We barely have 1080p/30 this gen.

 

[kirby_fox]

1080p/60 fps will be a staple for a long time.

I don't see 4K ever catching on. It'll be like SmartTVs-- people won't have a serious reason to upgrade. With content being difficult to put on disc or streamed, and the fact majority of our movies/TV shows are in SD, I feel like even with price drops the only way it'll catch on is if 1080p doesn't see price drops and is outright no longer produced.

Unless we have a breakthrough in compression that doesn't harm quality, I feel as though we're going to be at 1080p for many years.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

I am interested to know where PC gaming will be when next batch of consoles come out.

But will the games be better?

Baby, when the game looks that good, nobody cares about the gameplay.

 

[ComputerMKII]

The next step is to actually display shit the way our monitors were built to display - 1080p/60 fps

 

[Phoenix]

I am interested to know where PC gaming will be when next batch of consoles come out.



Baby, when the game looks that good, nobody cares about the gameplay.

If I could reach through the Internet...

 

[jstripes]

Baby, when the game looks that good, nobody cares about the gameplay.

That's the sad truth.

 

[Auto-Reply]

I'd be surprised if the next gen of consoles would be able to do 4k or even higher... at least not if we expect next gen to happen in 4-5 Years.

But i don't really know much about the technical reasons, all i know is that pc's can do it now because they are way more powerful than a PS4/XB1. They also need more power/wattage when rendering those resolutions. High end GPUs are eating a lot of power and Sony/Microsoft are seemingly not willing to put such a monster in a small box, this problem has to be resolved first. Will your typical GPU in the future need less power to render in 4-8K and higher? I guess so, but is that really a given in a shorter timeframe?

 

[Cudder]

4k will be what 1080p is this gen.

what?

 

[soundahfekz]

1080@60 for every game and insane effects would be sufficient for next 10 years

Never gonna happen

 

[Courage]

1080p 60fps will dominate this gen, since we're just barely reaching that now.

Next gen will fully move onto VR so I have no idea what that might entail.

 

[Incognito]

i don't understand the 1080p/60fps comments. according to internal MS documents, something like ~90% of all games released on X1 achieve this status. thus, i expect in the future MS will again be at the cutting edge of tech which means ray tracing, 4k, and probably other stuff we haven't even heard of.

 

[Liamario]

But will the games be better?

Exactly!

 

[R10Neymarfan]

1080p 60fps will dominate this gen, since we're just barely reaching that now.

Next gen will fully move onto VR so I have no idea what that might entail.

If it's VR then 4k 60fps or higher is absolutely a necessity in case to be accepted by the audiences.

 

[Graphics Horse]

1080p 60fps will dominate this gen, since we're just barely reaching that now.

I thought, if anything, frame rates on average get worse further into a generation for big budget games.

VR is the only thing that can shift priorities into fast framerates and high resolution at the expense of shiny graphics, not TVs.

 

[Anteater]

"above 1080p" will be the next step

 

[velociraptor]

1080p60 would be sweet.

If the PS5 and Xbox Two were 4k consoles then I'd wager the graphics wouldn't improve very much.

I'd rather have 1080p60 4xMSAA in every game than 4k30

Resolution only does so much. Personally I am content with 1080p.

 

[Amey]

1080p@120

 

[Leona Lewis]

1080p 60fps will dominate this gen, since we're just barely reaching that now.

Next gen will fully move onto VR so I have no idea what that might entail.

I don't see this happening at all. If anything, as developers squeeze more and flashier effects from the hardware, it'll be at the expense of framerate and resolution.

I'm sadly confident that everything else will get better, but IQ for everything but 2D games and graphics non-intensive indies will only get worse moving forward.

Spoiler

lol 4K

EDIT: Oh, you meant "next-gen" in the sense that it should actually be used, not in the sense used in 90% of instances (i.e. "next-gen" referring to current gen). In that case, definitely 1080p, but I still doubt we'll ever get to a place where 60fps is commonplace.

 

[Azulsky]

They have plenty of effects to add before you have to worry about a resolution jump to 4k.

More likely that TV's will start having higher refresh rates and the hardware can actually push past 60fps.

Movies and Porn need to make the jump first.

 

[Vashetti]

i don't understand the 1080p/60fps comments. according to internal MS documents, something like ~90% of all games released on X1 achieve this status. thus, i expect in the future MS will again be at the cutting edge of tech which means ray tracing, 4k, and probably other stuff we haven't even heard of.

According to MS, all games on XB1 are 1080p

 

[Zaptruder]

VR. 4k. 7 years. Believe.

 

[kehs]

Not making them cost 600 dollars.