A video of Tom Clancy’s The Division was released recently that included commentary from one of its developers (the host doesn’t give the developer’s name). Most of the video is standard show-and-tell in anticipation of its launch. But, a couple comments in particular did stand out. Basically the developer implies Ubisoft scaled down the PC version of the game to match the quality and performance of its console counterparts…what wait?
When answering a comment about recent PC ports being buggy and consoles impact on it the dev said;
It is definitely a factor, But one good thing about The Division is that we’ve always considered PC as a separate platform. I’ve worked on projects before where the PC version’s a port from a console, so it carries those limitations over, but we’ve always been in the mind that we’ll have a dedicated PC build, so it hasn’t really held it back too much.
Now it is good that they built the PC version entirely on its own instead of a cheap port over that most likely would’ve launched incredibly broken. But, then he continues-
We do have to kind of keep it [the PC version] in check with consoles because it would kind of be unfair just to push it so far away from them.
Now hold on a minute? Unfair?!? How is it unfair for a person on a $300 machine to have a lesser experience than a person on a +$1,000 machine? It makes complete sense to me that a game on a more powerful machine would look and perform better.
Ubisoft, the people that brought you the horribly broken Assassins Creed: Unity and, the not as bad but still broken, Assassins Creed: Syndicate have done it again and angered the PC gaming community.
Before I continue, it may sound like I’m saying PCs are superior but I’m not. Both have pros/cons to them but one of the main pros for PCs -at least mid to high end gaming computers- is the ability to run games at higher FPS and resolutions. That is why people invest so much into them instead of just spending a couple hundreds dollars on a console.
Now, I understand you don’t want to upset a chunk of your audience but I would hope console consumers understand the difference between a +$1000 system vs a $250-300 one. They should expect the PC version to look better. When I was a console gamer I didn’t complain about the difference in quality. I accepted it and, when I had the funds, built my own PC. But now that I have one, I keep running into AAA games that are either catering towards the console side of the market or releasing ultra buggy PC ports.
In my opinion, developers doing this are just stalling overall development in this medium. And, it’s letting Sony and Microsoft get away with building only slightly powerful consoles. Devs should be making a game that pushes those systems to their limits and force Sony and Microsoft to make something better! (not adding Nintendo because they’re always a tad behind 
hopefully that will change with the NX) not bending to – what I assume but hope isn’t the case – backdoor deal/threats from those companies to dumb down the game for their machines and consumers. In the case of The Division, if Ubisoft did in fact build the PC version separately, there should be zero reasons why its performance is locked to console standards.
Ubisoft has since released a statement in regard to the comments made by the unnamed developer. I ain’t buying it! This is an attempt to cover their developer’s slip of the tongue! *puts on tin foil hat*
It has come to our attention that a comment from one of our team members has been perceived by some members of the community to imply the PC version of The Division was ‘held back’ and this is simply not true,” the rep explained. “From the beginning, the PC version of The Division was developed from the ground up and we’re confident players will enjoy the game and the features this version has to offer. And the feedback from PC players who participated in the recent closed beta supports this.”
What do you think about this? Is it fair to allow developers to essentially ‘dumb down’ their games so the console versions run at similar performance as the PC version?
Please see below for the video mentioned. Jump to 13:28 to hear the comments.
Geek Jump 