The Unreal Engine 5 demo which featured PS5 gameplay was only running in 30 frames per second, it has been revealed. The Epic Games video gave fans an idea of what PS5 gameplay could look like but this suggests that the full potential of Unreal Engine 5 hasn't been shown.
Speaking to Digital Foundry, Epic Games confirmed that the Unreal Engine 5 demo featured 30FPS content but the company's vice president of engineering, Nick Penwarden, said that it used the technology's dynamic resolution feature. With dynamic resolution, said Penwarden, when the GPU load gets high a game can "lower the screen resolution a bit and then we can adapt to that." Penwarden has also said that despite having dynamic resolution, the PS5 gameplay that viewers saw "ends up rendering at about 1440p most of the time."
For most gamers, this information is hugely exciting as it suggests that frame rate will be less important than resolution in making next-gen games look great. Some were disappointed when it was revealed that the Xbox Series X will not eliminate 30FPS games, though the console supports up to 120FPS. Games like Dirt 5 are able to reach the top-end of that which is why some were upset at the suggestion that not all games will be in 60FPS as standard.
Some gamers were also frustrated to hear that Assassin's Creed Valhalla would not be able to guarantee 60FPS on next-gen consoles. After Ubisoft revealed an Xbox Series X gameplay trailer that seemed only to contain in-engine cinematics from the game, fans haven't seen how it will really look on the console. However, the 30FPS comment raised concerns from fans that this meant that the game would look anything other than brilliant.
This also means that next-gen games could potentially begin to look much better than what viewers saw in that Unreal Engine 5 demo. It has been confirmed that the PS5 and the Xbox Series X will support 8K resolutions, allowing players to see much more details in textures just like the marks in the walls in the video released by Epic Games.
Higher frame rates will be more important in some games though such as competitive multiplayer titles like Fortnite, which will be a PS5 and Xbox Series X launch title. For single-player adventure-style games like those seen in the Unreal Engine 5 demo these higher frame rates just may not be necessary.