As you may already know, Dishonored 2 won our “least most optimized PC game of 2016” award. Powered by the Void Engine, Dishonored 2 performs horribly on the PC platform. Naturally, PC gamers got a bit worried about the next game that Arkane Studios is currently working on, Prey. However, Creative Director Raphael Colantonio claimed that Prey won’t suffer similar performance issues on the PC.
As Colantonio said in an interview with GameInformer:
“We’ve had a rough launch on the PC with Dishonored 2. In development, you never exactly know what you’re going to see, especially on the PC with so many configurations and stuff. Unfortunately it is what it is – it shipped, then it got patched and now it runs really well. Of course, we are paying double attention to make sure that this time the PC version is really flawless when we ship.”
When asked how Arkane Studios will make sure that the PC version won’t suffer from performance issues, Colantonio added:
“A bit more Q&A time, also it’s a different engine so the constraints are different. In the case of Dishonored 2 we created a new engine really, even though it’s based on idTech most of it has been redone. The risk is not the same. In the case of Prey we’re using CryEngine and it’s an engine that’s already shipped stuff before. So it’s not the same configuration. But nevertheless we are aware of the problem; we were already but it got us by surprise. This time we’ll be paying more attention for sure.”
Prey is coming to the PC in 2017!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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“We’ve had a rough launch on the PC with Dishonored 2. In development, you never exactly know what you’re going to see, especially on the PC with so many configurations and stuff. Unfortunately it is what it is – it shipped, then it got patched and now it runs really well.”
Yeah, that would have been awesome if it was running as intended on day/week one…
I like how they excuse themselves with the configs and all that jazz. Consoles now have 4, 6 if you count Last gen systems and then we will be seeing another gen within the next few years, so if specs are such an issue for them, then consoles will not make things any better.
I find that devs that know they screwed up, have to make an excuse to get themselves out of their own mess, and then promise that they won’t screw up the next time (for real yo), are the ones that worry me the most. They worry me because they are afraid of how the market will react towards them. They aren’t confident with their craftsmanship at all and they have to instead fall back on making excuses and promises. I don’t do promises, I only promise what I can actually guarantee, or if not I will let them know beforehand of said promise not being able to come to fruition, rather than at the last minute.
Really I don’t want devs like those who make excuses in the first place, promising they won’t screw up, instead I want all that effort put into making up speeches, into actually making their games a ton better, especially to instil confidence in ones own product.
We’ll see how the game handles on PC, but with the whole excuse and promise act and how they somehow thought it was a good idea to mix tech 5 with 6, I’m not expecting anything great, maybe mediocre at best. Definitely not going to get my hopes up, because I’ve seen over the years what that gets me.
(Had to post this a second time thanks to DSOG’s swear censorship, because half the time I check back and my posts end up not showing at all, which leads to bad form from the site itself).
It’s funny how before they published Dis Horrored 2, they supposedly weren’t aware of all those pesky erratic pc configurations but now with Pray Too they’ve suddenly become aware of it?
I’d say a great part of vidjagaymers are children who are being lied to constantly by their parents, at school, brainwashed by mass media etc. so expecting publishers to be the epitome of truthfulness when they primarily need to run successful businesses is unrealistic. Just look at HellNo Gaymz. Still one of the best selling games on steam. Pathetic.
So in conclusion it seems running successful business is the exact opposite of being honest and telling the truth most of the time. It’s all about manipulative PR and creating the hypest of hypes.
It is a bit out of the blue on how these devs decided to put some blame on multiple PC configs, as in people out there who don’t all obey the console manufacturer spec law that they invented for their own user base. Most devs out there don’t even feel the need to speak let alone use the multiple configs as an excuse on their end, let alone talk about it. The fact that they not only brought it up, but also put some of the blame on us, people who love custom building out own rigs, shows that they are just a wee bit out of touch with the PC market in general.
Mind you, mixing two engines and code together was never a good idea to begin with, so at least I know who we’re dealing with and what to roughly expect from them (both from their craftsmanship and now how they think and react).
I will say this though, I’ve grown very tired of devs doing what pubs have done for years, giving us lip service and excuses, rather than simply doing their job and letting their actions speak over their words instead. Each time I see devs like in the article, spouting promises, I just roll my eyes and wait for the usual results to pan out and recollect all the times a dev has promised us said content or promises. I do admire those that just get on with it, put out quality content and don’t try gouging your wallet or treating you like some dumb idiot, especially those that constantly feel the need to give you lip service or trying to work your shaft (like Firaxis and their bs XCOM 2 PC exclusivity lips service, when the console port came in the end, despite all the excuses they said that PC is where it was going to be).
It is almost as if DirectX and Game Engines were not developed with support for multiple hardware configurations in mind…
Every single publisher/dev saying it was not aware of issues before releasing a game is a liar. Plain and simple. No need to pretend they are not. They should be publicly shamed for it.
Anybody who knows testing in the game industry knows AAA titles are actually tested but that publishers ( more than devs ) push for the release of broken and unoptimized titles.
Patches should be for unexpected low occuring issues, not to catch up two months of development post release!
i agree with you on the part on swearing. the moderation of this site is pretty bad. most often my simple jargon of wording will make the reply not showing at all and the site admin dont give an f
I think it’s stupid as hell, because we’re in the open world, not a high school classroom from the 1950’s.
If the site is trying to make the site the type for 12yr olds to visit, then they better stop posting all the articles that ever feature any form of thighs, breasts and high grade violence. Can’t have it one way over the other.
(Had to post this a second time thanks to DSOG’s swear censorship, because half the time I check back and my posts end up not showing at all, which leads to bad form from the site itself).
Better than google having John’s ….well butt, because the other word for butt is censored.
“this time the PC version is really flawless when we ship.”
Any developer or publisher who makes claims like these are not to be taken seriously.
Exactly. Because they have reacted to how we reacted to their poor craftsmanship, I now know that I cannot entirely take their word on what they are trying to promise us. Instead I’ll now expect the worst to come and another shoddy console port. At least if they actually do deliver in the end, I’ll be moderately surprised but they should honestly be delivering q quality polished product to begin with.
This time they use PC-friendly CryEngine 3 instead of ID Tech 5
Dishonored 1 – Unreal Engine (from EPIC)
Dishonored 2 – ID Tech 5 (from ID Software)
Prey 2017 – CryEngine 3 (from Crytek)
Wikipedia: “Prey_(2017_video_game)”
Pc friendly maybe but not optimized, they are better off with unreal.
.. and don’t pre-order
If video game developers and publishers have proven anything over the past 10 years, it is that they will articulate any conceivable lie to sell their game.
Don’t believe their lies. Wait for the reviews.
I’ll be the judge of that and i’ll quote you.
So you’re gonna buy his next game, even if it’s broken, and then you’re going to judge him fiercely? I’m sure he’s already trembling… with dollar signs for eyes.
No. Won’t buy if it’s not good. Haven’t bought a couple of games lately that i really wanted to play but due to their stupid bugged launches i’m still holdin’ on.
“As you may already know, Dishonored 2 won our “least most optimized PC game of 2016” award.”
Wait, what? So it was like the 10th on the list of the most optimized games of 2016?
says every publisher, dev and studio ever!
“it shipped, then it got patched and now it runs really well”
Does it? Does it now? Frame pacing issues are still plaguing the game AFAIK.
Shouldn’t games be shipped as polished and thoroughly tested/fixed titles? Saying you won’t release a broken mess with the next title is not enough. This industry needs to stop smoking crack and ship each title as if it was a deal breaker.
Thank God for artifical selection… game engineers are the ones that did not manage to make it in Aeronautical Engineering >:)
Haha, yeah it’s so sad. In what other industry could you use “This time we won’t release a broken mess” as marketing speech? Gamers have been F’ed in the A for way too long and have let way too much pass.
By runs very well they mean it does not have the ridiculous issues it had when it came out, essentially telling you “get a better pc you scrub” I hate this attitude.
“Insert_Company_Name” claims that the PC launch of “Insert_Game_Name” won’t be plagued by performance issues…
anyone believe this crock anymore???
“The risk is not the same. In the case of Prey we’re using CryEngine and it’s an engine that’s already shipped stuff before. So it’s not the same configuration.”
That seems like a reasonable assumption, but doesn’t really take into account the fact that there have already been multiple Cryengine games launch with crippling performance problems and bugs in recent years. It kind of suggests that Arkane aren’t really learning any lessons here.
THANK YOU, someone said it already.
but prey is not the game i wanted to play. i’m interested in dishonored 2 ffs. can they efkin fix it please?
CryEngine? OMG MUST PLAY xD
Yet another company with platitudes of “it’ll be fine!” AFTER they already f*cked up. They should know by now not to ship unoptimized garbage.
i’ll be the judge of that
“In development, you never exactly know what you’re going to see”
Of course, because you write code while blindfolded.
Do they think that people are idiots?
Is this info supposed to be reassuring? Because it isn’t…
“it shipped, then it got patched and now it runs really well”
No it doesnt.
” In the case of Dishonored 2 we created a new engine really, even though it’s based on idTech most of it has been redone. The risk is not the same. In the case of Prey we’re using CryEngine and it’s an engine that’s already shipped stuff before. ”
Cryengine is horrible.
Man that game without patches is unplayable. it has crashes that prevent you from finishing the game. I was surprised dishonored was so optimized and polished…now we are back at the old days of arkane messing up everything.
“least most” doesn’t make sense and is grammatically incorrect. Just call it “Worst optimised game of the year”.
>it shipped, then it got patched and now it runs really well
Wait, does it???
Dishonored2 “shipped, then it got patched and now it runs really well”.
How to lose any credibility from the get-go…