Dice on Battlefield 6: Optimizing for Series S Made “the whole game better and more stable.” - EA PR Won't Comment on Possible Switch 2 Port

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Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
kotaku.com

Battlefield 6 Devs Struggled To Get It Running On Xbox Series S

EA won't say anything about whether the upcoming and highly optimized shooter is coming to Switch 2
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Earlier this week, Kotaku sat down with two Battlefield 6 devs to discuss the game's console ports, and I asked if the team struggled while trying to get such a big and complicated game to run well on Xbox Series S. We've heard stories that the Series S can cause devs headaches. And despite Frostbite, BF6's engine, being very "scalable," the Series S was still proven a tricky beast to conquer.

"I will say that the biggest thing we did that was a challenge for us was [dealing with the console's limited] memory," explained Christian Buhl, technical director on Battlefield 6. "Xbox Series S does have less memory than even our mid-spec PC. And so there was a point…Oh, I want to say, like, 6 to 12 months ago where we kind of realized that a lot of our levels were crashing on Xbox Series S."

As a result, the team focused on "optimizing" memory usage in Battlefield 6. And these improvements weren't just felt on Series S. According to Buhl, this process made the "whole game better and more stable." However, the devs also worked on "specific optimizations" for Xbox Series S, too.
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Of course, with Frostbite being so scalable and the studio working hard to make BF6 super optimized, I wanted to ask if, theoretically, the game could run on a Switch 2. The studio is even implementing gyro controls on PS5 and PS5 Pro to let players flick around quickly or reload with the simple waggle of the gamepad.

However, when I asked if it would be possible for Battlefield 6 and Frostbite to run on a Switch 2 based on the specs, an EA rep stepped in and cut off Buhl right as he began to say something.

"Sorry, I have to step in here," said the EA rep. "We can't talk anything beyond, sort of, like, the consoles that Battlefield's coming to, which is Xbox Series X/S and PS5, and PS5 Pro."

Later on, when the team was talking about gyro controls, I brought up how the Switch 2 has excellent gyro sensors in its Joy-Con

"Exactly, yeah," was the response. So, at least I can confirm the devs working on Battlefield 6 think the Switch 2 has great gyro controls. Beyond that, nothing.
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This does make me wonder what a Switch 2 version of BF6 would really look like. Seeing Star Wars Outlaws look pretty respectable gives me some hope that the platform will see more of those types of ports.
 
I suspect we'll hear a lot more stories like these for the next 7 years.

"Getting the game ready for Switch 2 and PS6 Portable just made the game even better."
 
Lucifers Beard said:
This does make me wonder what a Switch 2 version of BF6 would really look like. Seeing Star Wars Outlaws look pretty respectable gives me some hope that the platform will see more of those types of ports.
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BF has environment destruction mechanics, which can be CPU-intensive.

A good barometer for whether it could happen or not is whether The Finals comes out on Switch 2 as it features similar mechanics.
 
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I wonder if "optimizing memory" mean crippling the levels down, as well as base detail, etc. So that on every other platform game looks worse as a result.
It was always sus that SS would hold back multiplats and it seems to do so, but perhaps it's good sometimes?
 
Graphics wise the game is actually not that impressive. It does appear that it could run on PS4 and Xbox One. I know that there are more to it than graphics but I was disappointed with the graphics.
 
deeptech said:
I wonder if "optimizing memory" mean crippling the levels down, as well as base detail, etc. So that on every other platform game looks worse as a result.
It was always sus that SS would hold back multiplats and it seems to do so, but perhaps it's good sometimes?
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Remedy said the same thing for AW2, Series S optimization can be beneficial for other platforms too. They were gonna ship AW2 at 30fps only but the optimization let them add a (pretty good) 60fps mode on SX and PS5.
 
This is just marketing speak. EA is riding on BF6 to perform cause of their poor decisions on other franchises. They need all the sales they can get. This whole "optimizing for the lowest common denominator" makes no sense otherwise all games in the PS3 era will be developed for the Wii so it's increases the optimisation for X360 and PS3.
 
It's a decent looking game, but yes, it is clear that the traditional cutting edge visual ambition that used to be a tenet of the Battlefield franchise, has been hampered by the need to run on Series S.
 
DirtInUrEye said:
It's a decent looking game, but yes, it is clear that the traditional cutting edge visual ambition that used to be a tenet of the Battlefield franchise, has been hampered by the need to run on Series S.
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Its more obviously a mixture of most of the veteran talent behind the cutting edge presentation Battlefield had up until 1 largely left the company, as well as game development constraints.

I don't really think its possible anymore to keep pushing the visual envelope without relying on very performance-degrading techniques (such as heavy RT), or a very prolonged development time (this game is being made in 4 years or less effectively, versus the long as hell turnaround times other devs are going through).

As for Switch 2, I do think this game could definitely be playable on S2, depending on how well the ARM CPU could scale to the game. Its definitely showing that when optimized right, it can be a very performant little device, and it would definitely be great being able to play it on the go, as currently none of the handhelds can run it too well. It just completely pins the CPU too hard to get more than like 40-50fps with nasty stuttering regardless of graphical settings.
 
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they should go Switch 2 with a great port. And make BF6 the one big Switch 2 game. I think it would sell great as there is nothing like it on Switch. Especially with CoD not being on there yet.

A lot of olds are on Nintendo. Lots of dads with kids too. And BF is a game olds like to play because you can go afk if you really need to without affecting the overall game too much. You don't have anything to remember if you can't play the game for a week. And it's not so much a 1v1 fastest draw in the west game. It's much more team reliant.

PLus Switch 2 has built in mouse control and m/k support out of the box.

Otherwise settle for putting BF1 on the Switch 2.
 
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adamsapple said:
Remedy said the same thing for AW2, Series S optimization can be beneficial for other platforms too. They were gonna ship AW2 at 30fps only but the optimization let them add a (pretty good) 60fps mode on SX and PS5.
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Yea, it could be that extra work of "sqeezing" the juice out of SS adds to others as well, but I guess they should always be pulling out the most of all anyhow.
I just always wondered if SS somehow by being lowest in memory and power had to serve as base console, so that perhaps when levels could be bigger or whatever, they'd had to be designed around the maximum power of weakest console?
 
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No shit sherlock.

Any game that is disaster on Series S is disappointing everywhere.

Any dev able to run 60 fps on it is competent.

Thats the yardstick.

I guess pretty soon it will be Switch 2, but not sure if it will get all the ports, or how devs approach it.
 
They should re-launch Bad Company 2 OR BF4 onto the Switch 2 they will sell and it wouldn't be impacted by rampant hacking due to Nintendo walled garden NSO. And with the mouse mode and gyro support people would want to compete online.
 
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I remember reading an interview that battlefield was pitched to Nintendo as an exclusive during the GameCube era but they declined. Crazy if true.
 
I've said it before. I am so glad the Series S exists. the Series S is probably singlehandedly responsible for at least half the 60fps modes we got this gen.

hell, who knows if the 60fps trend would have ever happened if it wasn't for the Series S. the moment you have a Series S version, you also have a graphics mode that will easily run at 60fps on the other consoles, without ever being GPU limited in the slightest. and then from there you can add on to that mode until you reach that GPU limit.

I am just sad that it has such a comparably powerful CPU tbh.
yes, it would have probably added too much of a hurdle for Devs if it didn't, but on the other hand it would have all but guaranteed 60fps on literally every PS5 and Series X game if the CPU would also scale that way, and we wouldn't have games with CPU limits where there realistically shouldn't be any.
 
Mokus said:
How the game looks it could run on the PS4 too (not necessarily a bad thing if the gameplay is very good).
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Wouldn't surprise me to see them release a last gen version later on, I'd imagine they are at least exploring the idea, and that seems to be a bit of a trend now.
 
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acm2000 said:
we know sony money hatted blackmyth, other than that theres hardly been anything else
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In 2024, Sony « moneyhatted » Helldivers 2, FF7 Rebirth, Stellar Blade, Rise of the Ronin, Silent Hill 2 remake, Until Dawn remake and Astrobot, so they really didn't need to silently moneyhat Black Myth Wukong
 
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