Watch Dogs won’t run at 1080p, 60fps

After accusations of downgraded graphics, videos showcasing stunning visuals, and the promise that the game will look great on next-gen consoles, Ubisoft has confirmed that Watch Dogs will not run at 1080p at 60 frames per second on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Watch Dogs lead programmer Francis Boivin recently promised the game will not only look good on next-gen consoles, but maintain high-frame rates too.

Boivin said that this would be achieved by using subpixel morphological anti-aliasing (SMAA) for both the Xbox One and PS4 versions of the game.

Ubisoft has now backtracked somewhat on this promise, stating that the PS4 version of the game will run at 900p at 30fps, while the Xbox One version will run at 792p with the same frame rate.

Watch Dogs creative chief Jonathan Morin said in a Ubisoft blog post that it was more important for Watch Dogs to deliver “an amazing next-gen experience” than a 1080p resolution.

“Resolution is a number, just like framerate is a number. All those numbers are valid aspects of making games. But you make choices about the experience you want to deliver. In our case, dynamism is everything. Exploration and expression are everything.”

“You want to have a steady framerate, but you want to have dynamism at the core of the experience. The same goes with resolution,” said Morin.

He added that the ability for gamers “to express themselves” in Watch Dogs was very important, which resolution had nothing to do with. “That’s why stuff like resolution can scale a bit down so that we never compromise the soul of Watch Dogs.”

The post also stated that the Decryption competitive multiplayer mode and the ability to free-roam with multiple players will not be able available in the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game.

Watch Dogs is due to be released for PC, PS4, PS3, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on 27 May 2014. The Wii U version is due out at the end of June.

Take a look at our pre-order price roundup for local pricing.