The Outer Worlds: Xbox One X Gets 4K, PS4 Pro Does Not
Action RPG fans are eagerly awaiting The Outer Worlds, which looks like the spiritual successor to Fallout: New Vegas that many have been craving. Unfortunately, it seems 4K graphics for the console version of the game are being limited to the Xbox One X, and the PlayStation 4 Pro port will not be getting those crisper visuals.
In fact, the game on PS4 Pro won't have many improvements to speak of at all.
In an short statement issued to Windows Central, 2K's Private Division publishing arm gave us an idea of what to expect from the console versions of The Outer Worlds: "4K on Xbox One, no enhancements for PS4 Pro." And yes, you read that correctly. The game on Xbox One X will display in glorious 4K, while somehow, the same game on PlayStation 4 Pro will look like it's running on a base PS4. If you're a PlayStation main, you're likely a little miffed right now at this news, and that's totally understandable.
There is a rather simple explanation for why the Xbox One X got some extra love, though: Microsoft owns Obsidian Entertainment, the studio behind the game.
We know what you're probably thinking: Microsoft forced Obsidian to make the PlayStation 4 Pro version of The Outer Worlds look worse. While it's fun to speculate about Microsoft and Sony battling it out that way, the reason for the graphical disparity may actually be less sinister than that. It's possible that, thanks to its access to Obsidian, Microsoft was able to help the studio enhance The Outer Worlds for the Xbox One X, and that otherwise the Xbox One X and PS4 Pro versions would've been nearly identical. So before you jump the gun on the Microsoft vs. Sony stuff, consider that developers from Microsoft could've actually been the ones working on 4K support for Obsidian's new game. Obsidian is a small studio. A move like that would actually make a lot of sense.
How will that work look in the finished product? We'll find out in a few short days. The Outer Worlds comes to PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on Oct. 25, with a Nintendo Switch version arriving sometime later on.