Ubisoft are reluctant to make the PC version of The Division look considerably better than the game’s console versions due to the discrepancies being “unfair,” said the company.
In a video posted by Team Epiphany, a developer on The Division stated that, “one good thing about The Division is we’ve always considered the PC as a separate platform. I’ve worked on projects before that the PC version’s a port from a console so it carries that limitation 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.”
However, those comments were immediately followed by ones that will undoubtedly irritate PC gamers across the land. It’s no secret that PC ports of games in the past have failed to replicate the high quality of their console alternatives (Batman: Arkham Knight instantly comes to mind), and while the above comments seem to suggest that the PC version of The Division has been tailored directly to the platform, it seems it’ll intentionally be held back to maintain consistency across all platforms.
We do have to kind of keep it in check with the consoles, because it would kind of be unfair just to push it so far away from them. But it’s been good having a dedicated PC build for this game. I’m really happy that we’re pushing the PC build as much as we are. There’s a lot more customised options and stuff than the console.
It’s unclear how drastic the restrictions on the PC version will be, but as a whole, The Division already looks considerably less impressive – visually – in comparison to the original trailers and reveals released a few years back.
This won’t be the first time Ubisoft have come under fire for discrepancies between the PC and console versions of their titles, but the studio promises that PC gamers are just as valuable to them as those on other platforms.
The final verdict will surely come on March 8 when The Division releases on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC, as we have no doubt that hundreds of comparison videos will trickle out to scrutinize the differences.
