Smart Delivery, that of EA Sports and CD Projekt RED are not the same thing

Yesterday's EA Play Live 2020 conference was disappointing in many ways. In our opinion, the most interesting projects and the key information of the American giant, for some reason still unknown, have not been shown to make room for minor games or little information. For example, the fact that EA is trying to get more and more away from microtransactions (after the snaps taken) and that it has decided to embrace Smart Delivery also for its sports games, in this case called Dual Entitlement, is definitely interesting information for us consumers. The second, moreover, is an apparently not obvious decision, which indeed shows a certain attention by EA Sports towards its users. This is because EA Sports' next-gen updates are different, for example, from those of CD Projekt RED, Microsoft and most developers who want to create cross-gen experiences.

we're saying that bringing Cyberpunk 2077 or Assassin's Creed Valhalla to the Xbox Series X and PS5 is simple. Especially if the job is done well, it takes weeks of work to introduce graphic improvements, optimize performance, integrate game code into new features and make it compatible with new hardware. The cross-gen games will hopefully be better on the new consoles, with much faster loading times, hopefully a smoother frame rate and many additional graphic effects. So we are happy that Cyberpunk 2077 will also have a free update on PS5.

However, if you allow me the comparison, it is the same process that is already planned for PC : the assets are the same, what changes is how they are used. If you have a 3080ti in SLI, a i9 and a SSD, then you will be able to get the game at a higher resolution with the frame rate unlocked, the ray-tracing and all the other delicacies of the gaming PC high-level. A procedure similar to what we expect on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.





For athletes, in fact, is not so simple. Or at least he hopes. If EA Sports (and 2K Games and Konami) have worked well, the games that will arrive in stores at the end of the year on the new PlayStation and Xbox will not be as current-gen, with improved graphics, but will be a completely new experience that she shares with the game the Xbox One and PS4 only title, and the sport. The generational change, indeed, is the time to change the game engine, rewriting of the physical model, management of contacts, animations.

The new computational power not only serves to put lights in more or make you sweat more athletes, such as, for example, the dripping Zion Williamson NBA 2K21 , but is exploited to calculate a larger number of alternatives in the bounce of the ball, to tie together a larger number of animations, to make it more realistic atmospheric effects, or to move with a greater sense athletes in the field.

In other words, FIFA 21 , PES 2021 , Madden NFL 21 , NBA 2K21, and so on must be two different games between the current and the next generation. For this, the Smart Delivery should not be applicable to sports games. For this reason, it is said that the saves are cross-gen. And this was not so obvious that EA Sports decided to give the " two games for the price of one ". And then we are happy to have changed your mind.

What do you think? Pariamone.

Now, however, AND the time has come to let us see what you have in store for us in this next-gen. The EA Play Live is gone. What will be the right time?