Spoiler: Neither of them. While the Witcher is an undeniable critical darling that seems to be worthy of its praise, both of the new consoles struggle to run the game the way it should run. We’ve had a look at all three versions, and it looks pretty similar on consoles – with both the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 delivering some pretty shiny graphics, not too dissimilar from what you’d see on a reasonably high-end PC. The big difference comes in with resolution and frame rate.
According to Eurogamer’s Digital Foundry, both consoles falter on those fronts. Interestingly the Witcher 3 on Xbox One, with its slightly, but dynamic lower resolution runs with an unlocked frame rate, and sometimes goes higher than the PlayStation 4, which is capped to 30fps, but often drops below that number. They’re both a bit on the shoddy side, with the busy Novigrad cities taxing both systems. Both systems have frame rate and frame pacing issues.
“Overall, the fact Xbox One tends to holds a higher frame-rate is misleading in terms of the quality of the end experience; a capped 30fps is by far the preferred option in this case and we still hope to see it implemented in a future update. The PS4 release has the right tactic, but it lets itself down by being unable to stream in world geometry or render effects at a perfect 30fps to take advantage of this.
The perceived effect is a judder to motion on both consoles, for cut-scenes and gameplay, though PS4 is capable of smoother passages of play at times. When it comes to performance, and factoring in the game’s superior 1920×1080 output, Sony’s hardware is a preference – but it’s not the clear choice we had expected.”
The clear choice? Yes, yes, it’s PC – but Digital Foundry hasn’t done their extensive testing on that platform yet, so we can’t say just how much better it is.
Last Updated: May 20, 2015
Blood Emperor Trevor
May 20, 2015 at 14:32
I believe the technical terms is “lots”. Lots better.
Admiral Chief's Adventure
May 20, 2015 at 14:37
I thought it was “buckets”
iBall Announces
May 20, 2015 at 16:38
Work with yahoo google Utube and lazygamer < I didn't believe …that…my brother woz like truly making money part time at their computer. . there aunt had bean doing this 4 only seventeen months and resantly paid the dept on there apartment and bourt themselves a Lotus Elise .
see this her SEE MORE INFO
jhosson Mandala
May 21, 2015 at 14:52
Great by google yahoo and lazygamer < I didn't believe …that…my brother woz like truly making money part time at their computer. . there aunt had bean doing this 4 only seventeen months and resantly paid the dept on there apartment and bourt themselves a Lotus Elise .
see this her CLICK FOR MORE INFO
Hammersteyn
May 20, 2015 at 14:50
I thought it was “let’s all point and laugh at the peasants”
Blood Emperor Trevor
May 20, 2015 at 14:53
Too busy playing the game to do that. I’ll think of them later, maybe.
Thats_how_I_Troll
May 20, 2015 at 14:57
http://i.imgur.com/shRCOnY.gif
Admiral Chief's Adventure
May 20, 2015 at 15:01
xD
kuuu(UMAR)rrrr
May 20, 2015 at 14:35
here we go
http://media.giphy.com/media/JoWgaXr7402dO/giphy.gif
Blood Emperor Trevor
May 20, 2015 at 14:36
Blood Emperor Trevor
May 20, 2015 at 14:42
I’m actually pretty surprised at how well it runs on my PC. My card’s just around min spec & it’s running very smoothly on Medium. I was anticipating a Low slide show. They did some good work there.
Admiral Chief's Adventure
May 20, 2015 at 14:43
Refresh my memory, what are your specs again?
Blood Emperor Trevor
May 20, 2015 at 14:45
GPU is a Radeon 6950, min was either a 7850 or 7870. CPU is a Phenom X4 965, min was a 960 I think.
Admiral Chief's Adventure
May 20, 2015 at 14:46
This is good news for me then, I thought I had to settle for medium.
My 8320 and 7870 might just make the high mark!
Matthew Holliday
May 20, 2015 at 14:59
The jump to high is pretty severe, medium should be fine though.
Thats_how_I_Troll
May 20, 2015 at 14:49
http://i.imgur.com/XXfI3Nt.gif
Ghost In The Rift
May 20, 2015 at 23:13
Scares me, i got a GT 740, very sub par so don’t think i can pull 1080p on medium:-(
Paul Fouche
May 20, 2015 at 14:45
mine too playing between high and ultra with Nvidia hair works off and constant 50-60 fps 🙂 1080p 🙂
AMD 6300 8 gb memory and R9290x
Admiral Chief's Adventure
May 20, 2015 at 14:49
Awesome sauce, TONIGHT WILL BE A GOOD NIGHT!
Jonah Cash
May 20, 2015 at 14:45
The 20 minutes I played on Ultra was pretty.. well pretty pretty actually! Will give it a proper bash over the weekend and see if my rig can maintain the prettiness…
Fnuik
May 20, 2015 at 14:45
The amount of textures not loading, buildings disappearing etc. is quite alarming. Nothing that can’t be patched i guess.
Sageville
May 20, 2015 at 14:46
Ya know, these pixel comparisons were interesting during the console wars leading up to release.
Now I just don’t have any fucks to give, it’s not like I use that info to inform my purchasing decisions.
Jonah Cash
May 20, 2015 at 14:48
Yeah a bit too late for these type of articles. Maybe it is just a ploy they use to give the MasterRace a “new” stick to hit us with…. What am I saying, I am now part of said race… Buk bliksem buk!!
Loftus
May 20, 2015 at 14:58
In the Pc MasterRace, all Pc’s are equal…but some Pc’s are more equal than others!
Jonah Cash
May 20, 2015 at 15:00
I’d like to think I am in the more equal side of things.. Or at least after that amount of cash I hope I am.
Hammersteyn
May 20, 2015 at 14:51
It’s because we keep forgetting they’re better than us.
Admiral Chief's Adventure
May 20, 2015 at 14:51
YOU ARE ALSO ONE OF US DAMMIT
Jonah Cash
May 20, 2015 at 14:53
Myself and Hammer still see ourselves as peasants master…
Admiral Chief's Adventure
May 20, 2015 at 14:54
I’ll allow it
Hammersteyn
May 20, 2015 at 14:55
I don’t agree with this Master Race shite. Now the guys here aren’t that bad but out there they are vile, toxic, miserable assholes. I’ll rather stick with consoles and deny I play on PC
Jonah Cash
May 20, 2015 at 14:57
I haven’t met any PC guys out there yet. I mainly play offline on my PC and online on my console. Wow I am backwards!
Hammersteyn
May 20, 2015 at 14:58
I meant on Youtube and 9gag comments.
Jonah Cash
May 20, 2015 at 14:59
Oh I don’t go onto 9gag or really youtube for that matter.
Blood Emperor Trevor
May 20, 2015 at 14:59
Why did you do that to yourself? I’d rather read sports news comments on news24 than youtube comments.
Hammersteyn
May 20, 2015 at 15:00
for the lulz
Pariah
May 20, 2015 at 15:00
Yeah but it’s like sex with a stranger. Sounds like fun until you get herpes…
Sageville
May 20, 2015 at 15:32
#RealConfessions
Pariah
May 20, 2015 at 15:33
SSSSSSHHH!!!
Hammersteyn
May 20, 2015 at 15:36
XD
Thats_how_I_Troll
May 20, 2015 at 15:33
http://i.imgur.com/W17w7v1.gif
Pariah
May 20, 2015 at 15:36
That’s horrific omg.
Izzy
May 20, 2015 at 15:01
I’m in the same boat, to be honest. I am, and always will be a PC gamer for the better part, but I also enjoy console games and loved every second of my PS2. Skipped last gen completely. >.> I only got PS4 this year to play the exclusives and stuff that tickles me, but now it’s digital shit being tossed around by the most toxic people I’ve ever come across out there. Maybe it’s just me, but it’s never been -this- bad before. A few years back? people would quip at each other, as they tend to do, but shit’s getting ridiculously volatile these days. XD
Thats_how_I_Troll
May 20, 2015 at 15:35
http://i.imgur.com/3DfY8PB.gif
Thats_how_I_Troll
May 20, 2015 at 15:29
http://i.imgur.com/IoQdYIn.gif
Pariah
May 20, 2015 at 14:53
They know their place. Leave them be.
Thats_how_I_Troll
May 20, 2015 at 15:01
http://i.imgur.com/amUJpQl.gif
Sageville
May 20, 2015 at 15:29
I wish I had Jack’s eyebrows…
Izzy
May 20, 2015 at 14:49
I believe the correct answer is: “No console plays it best.” Haha.
In all seriousness though, just got the game for PS4 today and started the update earlier so I can just jump in when I get home. Reading a lot of troubling things about game-stopping bugs and stuff, and I’m starting to seriously regret being so overeager. 🙁
Sageville
May 20, 2015 at 15:35
Stress not, my Witcher runs very sexah, I just get some inventory images that looked corrupt sometimes.
Sometimes I think they use the term “Game Breaking” just to get clicks these days.
Thats_how_I_Troll
May 20, 2015 at 15:36
http://i.imgur.com/9fqFw1A.gif
Galbedir
May 20, 2015 at 14:50
This game is beautiful and so well optimized…I was also worried about my PC, running an AMD Hexacore T1100 3.2ghz. 8gb Ram, MSI Radeon R9270 OC, and I got all setting on High, with AA turned off and no Nvidia hair. I have yet to actually monitor my fps, but I don’t notice an ounce of shuddering. Definitely higher then 30fps.
Admiral Chief's Adventure
May 20, 2015 at 14:51
Nice!
Kromas,powered by windows 10.
May 20, 2015 at 14:52
You can’t answer the question at the end of your own damn article!
Thats_how_I_Troll
May 20, 2015 at 15:08
http://i.imgur.com/z4qM2Gd.gif
Frik van der Hewerskink
May 20, 2015 at 14:52
PC MASTER RACE!!!
Thats_how_I_Troll
May 20, 2015 at 14:53
http://i.imgur.com/jEU8cEl.gif
Blood Emperor Trevor
May 20, 2015 at 14:54
Is that one of the werewolves from Twilight?
Jonah Cash
May 20, 2015 at 14:55
Close enough… (refresh)
Thats_how_I_Troll
May 20, 2015 at 14:59
http://i.imgur.com/Ay29K.jpg
Pariah
May 20, 2015 at 15:00
Brave Starr for some reason comes to mind. O_o
Admiral Chief's Adventure
May 20, 2015 at 15:02
Eyes of the Hawk!
Thats_how_I_Troll
May 20, 2015 at 15:04
http://i.imgur.com/Y6sHgV4.gif
kuuu(UMAR)rrrr
May 20, 2015 at 14:57
Could care less about frames and graphics. Font size is unreadable on a TV.
Pariah
May 20, 2015 at 14:58
QQ MOAR
kuuu(UMAR)rrrr
May 20, 2015 at 14:58
Quite cruel, but okay, be mean.
Pariah
May 20, 2015 at 14:59
I gave you a solution earlier. 😛 The nice route wasn’t working, thought I’d try something different.
kuuu(UMAR)rrrr
May 20, 2015 at 15:00
If that was your nice then….I don’t know 😛
Pariah
May 20, 2015 at 15:01
I’m not a CDPR dev, it’s the best I could do, ok? 🙁
Jonah Cash
May 20, 2015 at 14:58
I haven’t really checked it on PC, but I think it was fine when I played 20 minutes yesterday. Is it really that small?
kuuu(UMAR)rrrr
May 20, 2015 at 14:59
Playing on my 40 inch TV, it’s horrible, I have to use the PS4 zoom function to read things in the menu properly.
Jonah Cash
May 20, 2015 at 15:01
Wow, that is terrible! Hope they sort that out quickly. That would make me very annoyed.
kuuu(UMAR)rrrr
May 20, 2015 at 15:02
I’m not too annoyed, game is awesome. Hopefully they do sort it out though.
Admiral Chief's Adventure
May 20, 2015 at 15:02
Dayum
Pariah
May 20, 2015 at 14:59
That’s what…
Mossel
May 20, 2015 at 14:59
haha xD
Mossel
May 20, 2015 at 14:59
That’s what she said?
Hammersteyn
May 20, 2015 at 15:01
He I sit pretty close to the TV but yeah now that I think about it.
kuuu(UMAR)rrrr
May 20, 2015 at 15:01
I don’t sit too far away from my TV though. It puts too much strain on one’s eyes.
Blood Emperor Trevor
May 20, 2015 at 15:07
Heh I had the exact opposite problem. One of the 1st things I did was reduce the HUD size because I thought it was too big.
kuuu(UMAR)rrrr
May 20, 2015 at 15:09
Monitor?
Blood Emperor Trevor
May 20, 2015 at 15:10
Yes, but then I’m sitting not even 1m away from it.
kuuu(UMAR)rrrr
May 20, 2015 at 15:11
Yeah, I’m not sitting too far, but it is a distance though. It should be perfectly fine on a monitor though.
Ranting Raptor
May 20, 2015 at 15:14
PC
Admiral Chief's Adventure
May 20, 2015 at 15:14
PC is not a console!
Izzy
May 20, 2015 at 15:16
Given the whole “Downgrade” debacle, I don’t think CDPR got the memo. 😉 *Fuels fire*
Ranting Raptor
May 20, 2015 at 18:12
Really? Coz I’m pretty sure consoles have evolved in to mini PC’s……
Mistake Not...
May 20, 2015 at 15:15
Genuinely dissapointed. I was thinking of picking it up today, but I can’t risk it, unfortunately.
chimera_85
May 20, 2015 at 16:19
Just got my PC today haha. Hopefully it can run this well enough. i5 3.2Ghz, 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz RAM, 2GB GDDR GTX 960
saneman
May 21, 2015 at 08:39
so its run on xbox at 720p
and full hd on playstation
surely the xbox one can run it higher than the last gen consoles?
I mean 720p was last gen.
HairyEwok
May 21, 2015 at 08:40
I read that you can actually go into the graphics ini file on pc and tweak the settings to what it looked like in the original imagery that was advertised…. Now I am truly sold by CDPR for letting you be able to do it. Yes they bumped the graphics down but they did it because they knew not everybody has Titans and SLI running in their PC’s
Pieter Smal
May 21, 2015 at 09:00
PC ALL the way! 🙂
Donald Rogers
May 21, 2015 at 09:35
Online Work With Yahoo Faceboo Google and lazygamer —– —–> Join Free
WitWolfy
May 21, 2015 at 10:50
Played it a bit last night on PS4.. NOT BAD AT ALL! Didn’t even care as much for the graphical downgrade as much as I thought I would. THE GAME IS STILL BEAUTIFUL. Good work CD PR you made a believer out of me again, even if you did use smoke and mirrors a tad bit in the beginning for hype…
40 Insane Frogs
May 21, 2015 at 11:20
Hush you Tim! We know it’s the Wii U! THE WII U PLAYS WITCHER 3 THE BEST!