Metro dev says he’s most excited for ‘unannounced’ PS5 / XSX features
Sony previously claimed it had yet to reveal PS5’s “bigger differences”
A key developer at Metro studio 4A Games has said he is most excited about PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X features that are yet to be announced.
Speaking to Digital Foundry in a new interview, 4A’s chief technical officer Oles Shishkovstov said the studio will fully embrace the real-time raytracing features of the next-gen consoles, but suggested there’s equally significant feature reveals to come.
“We are fully into ray tracing, dropping old-school codepath/techniques completely,” Shishkovstov said. “Internally we experimented a lot, and with spectacular results so far. You will need to wait to see what we implement into our future projects.”
Asked about the various confirmed features for the new consoles, such as solid state storage and increased graphics power, the CTO said: “I am more excited for not yet publicly revealed things.”
In January Sony Interactive Entertainment teased that it had yet to reveal the “bigger differences” that will separate PlayStation 5 from the previous console generation.
While Sony is yet to publicly showcase its next-gen console, it’s confirmed a number of flagship features including an ultra-high speed SSD and haptic feedback in its controller.
According to PlayStation boss Jim Ryan, introducing these kinds of unique elements with PS5 is just as important as increasing its console’s hardware power.
“With every new console, the processor and graphics get better, which is, of course, compelling, but we need to have unique elements too,” he said.
“We have already revealed the adoption of an SSD and yes, it’s a big change to have almost no load times at all.
“When you experience 3D audio and haptic feedback controls, you’ll notice that it’s an amazing change.”
“The Metro gaming series will be continued,” the novelist said in an Instagram post. “Working on the story.”
The first entry in the Metro game franchise, 2010’s Metro 2033, was based on Glukhovsky’s book of the same name. The author also contributed to 2013 sequel Metro: Last Light and the most recent release, February 2019’s Metro Exodus.
In May, THQ Nordic called Metro Exodus “the largest game launch so far in the history of the group”, noting that it had “performed in line with management’s expectations and has recouped all investments in development and marketing”.
It also revealed that it had signed a new development agreement with Metro studio 4A Games for an upcoming, “still undisclosed AAA-project”.
Speaking during a financial results presentation, THQ Nordic CEO Lars Wingefors said of 4A Games: “I’m very happy to have them as an external studio within Deep Silver and they continue to work on the Metro franchise.”