Sony’s PS4 enjoys what is being described as a “significant” and “obvious” performance advantage over Xbox One.
That’s according to unnamed “multiple high-level game development sources” sourced by Edge.
The site claims that memory read speeds are 40-50 per cent faster on PS4 and that its ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit) is around 50 per cent faster. This apparently means that a game running at 30 frames per second in 1080p on PS4 will manage only “20-something” frames per second at 1600x900 on Xbox One.
Much of the trouble is apparently blamed on Microsoft’s drivers which are allegedly “running behind” according to one source are “horrible” according to another.
However, the differences are unlikely to result in any tangible differences across the machine’s third-party launch titles, with the need to develop for both machines to a tight deadline meaning that many studios will simply “castrate” the PS4 version to bring both in line.
One source stated: “The poor [graphics] drivers have made it difficult to push either of them, and the developers aren’t familiar with the hardware yet.”