PlanetSide 2 PS4 Beta Scheduled for 2014, Game Aiming for 1080p/60fps

Originally planned to launch on PlayStation 4 earlier this year, PlanetSide 2 isn’t going to release in 2014, but as Creative Director Matt Higby told Eurogamer, there will be a beta by the end of the year. More information should be given during the PlayStation Experience event next month.

With such a long delay for PlanetSide 2, Higby explained that it’s due to them wanting make a full-on console experience:

As much as it sounds like we’re blowing smoke, we’re working hard to release a game that feels like a full-on console experience and not just like a port.

So it’s taken us quite a long time to re-jigger our user interface and our controls. There’s a lot that needs to get done.

Getting the game to work properly with the DualShock 4 has been a “really large design process” with lots of iteration done to make it right. In all, Higby says, “Our goal is at the end of the day to have our launch on the PS4 feel like a great PS4 native console game. Not just a PC port. So it’s taking a while.”

In terms of graphics, Higby thinks “people will be very impressed” with the game on PS4, adding that it compares “very favorable” to the PC version. For the game on PS4, it uses the ultra textures, full particle effects, shadows and lighting from the PC version.

As for frame-rate, Higby says they’re optimizing PlanetSide 2 to run more consistently on PS4. Right now they’re “running for 1080p” resolution and “trying to shoot for 60fps,” but the latter is subject to change:

We’re trying to get a solid frame-rate. So if we go to 30 it’ll be because we want to maintain a completely solid 30fps. But that’s the optimization we’re working on right now. And we’re still grinding on it.

Generally speaking the client is running at well over 60fps. In a really big fight it gets bogged down. That’s the bottleneck we’re chasing down.

Higby later added that cross-platform play between PC and PS4 won’t be possible because “it also has to do with the way we do updates.” Because of the QA process on PS4, “We won’t be able to guarantee that our updates are in sync on the PC and the PS4.”