Developers are really digging the PlayStation 4's hardware architecture. The latest to speak up about Sony's new console is Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat which called the PS4 a "really pleasant surprise." Mallat's comments come not long after Epic Games VP Mark Rein referred to the PS4 as a "really perfect gaming PC."
Mallet believes the transition to a new console will be "less complex" than in the past, partially because of Sony's decision to use "off-the-shelf" PC parts. "From what we can talk about, which is the PlayStation 4, it's been a radical change from those guys," he told CVG.
"I'll tell you an anecdote: When I was the producer on Prince of Persia: Sands of Time we managed to get our hands on a very good programmer who's still on the Assassin's Creed core team," he elaborated. "One day on his desk he had a black book all written in Japanese, and I was like, 'what is that?' It was the documentation support for coding for PS2. 'That's why I wanted to have Japanese lessons,' he said – to understand and make the most out of the machine."
"That day I understood how complex it was to develop on PlayStation 2. So we were eager to find out what the PlayStation 3 would be in terms of architecture, and it was pretty much the same but more complex."
"PlayStation 4 really comes as a pleasant surprise because indeed it's a very familiar architecture," Mallet said, making Ubisoft's decision to develop its next-gen games early on high-end PCs seem all the smarter. "I think it's paying off for us deciding to develop on high-end PCs early. It's a less complex transition."
I'm no expert on hardware, but judging by the praise and the number of developers — both AAA and indie — that have hopped on the PS4 bandwagon, I'd say Sony made the right decision in switching to more of a PC architecture.
