Oblivion remastered is an absolute dumpster fire for performance in general.
Given the massive increase in hardware prices lately, we are going to have to get by with mid range or even low end hardware for a lot longer. Studios will be forced to actually optimise games to not run like shit on a sub $8000 PC.
Every game should be targeting the switch 2 and steam deck in terms of power.
But that’s the thing: I want to play oblivion remastered.
Having a powerful rig is the brute force way around the game’s performance problems.
My PC wasn’t $8000. My 9850X3D, 32GB of RAM, and motherboard cost $800 in a bundle. Yes, purchased in 2026 during the RAM crisis. I was also able to sell my previous CPU, RAM, and board for around $500.
Obviously this is not a budget build but about half the cost is the graphics card. I would have saved minimal amount of money if I had gotten a worse CPU.
> Every game should be targeting the switch 2 and steam deck in terms of power.
I think PS5 is a perfectly reasonable spec to be targeting, which was the higher end of mid range about 5 years ago, and still significantly out performs Switch 2 (which significantly out performs steam deck). I’m sure the GTA sales will demonstrate that the install base at this spec is wide enough for broad commercial success.
I don’t really want game experiences to be locked at a PS5 forever. That console is actually somewhat old now. There are phones that have more graphical power than a PS5. A MacBook Air has a more powerful GPU than a PS5.
I grew up with gaming systems that got rapidly better and while it can be argued that we are at a diminishing returns plateau of gaming horsepower, I don’t think the solution is to never get hardware upgrades ever again, even in the current RAM-constrained environment.
GTA VI is coming out with FPS maximum of 30FPS on the PS5 including PS5 Pro. That’s a subpar experience that is limited by hardware.
I didn’t mean to imply that we should target ps5 as an exclusive platform, but ps5 is a good hardware spec to target, as there are several platforms that can match it and it has a wide install base.
Yeah, and I see what you mean there. I think even when the PS6 comes out, game developers largely won’t be taking advantage of its capabilities just like how today they don’t really leverage the capabilities of an RTX 5090.
We saw with much of the PS5’s lifespan that many of its cross-platform games came out on PS4 and original Switch with minimal compromise.
Not enough of the install base owns those higher end solutions, so for the most part someone with a better performing rig is getting better FPS, higher resolution, and not much else. Even gaining additional draw distance is rare these days, and higher resolution textures are basically impossible to see.
If the console is going to survive rather than decline as a whole I think that Microsoft and Sony will need to get more serious about innovation rather than just making a samey spec bump at a high price that doesn’t motivate their users to upgrade. Nintendo already proved that basic and rather mild level of innovation can excite the market (original Switch).
Actual gameplay capabilities haven't been limited by hardware for a long time now. You can implement any mechanics you want on modern hardware, the only thing limited is graphics, resolution and framerate.
It's relatively easy to allow powerful hardware to just run the game at 4k 120fps highest settings while weaker hardware runs exactly the same game at lower graphic settings.
Given the massive increase in hardware prices lately, we are going to have to get by with mid range or even low end hardware for a lot longer. Studios will be forced to actually optimise games to not run like shit on a sub $8000 PC.
Every game should be targeting the switch 2 and steam deck in terms of power.