PS3 Utilizing Only 20% of Potential

In a recent interview, Glenn Entis, EA Vice President & Chief Visual Officer talked about the differences between PS3 and XBox 360 game development. When PS3 was released just a few weeks ago, it seemed to be right on par with current XBox 360 titles. Here’s the kicker:

“The whole industry knows it’s been a challenge; the PS3’s a very complex piece of equipment. On one hand it’s a challenge, on the other hand there’s tremendous potential in that box. I think it’s going to take developers a little while to figure out how to unlock that power.

We’ve got games coming out now where we feel we’ve hit maybe 20 per cent of the potential of PlayStation 3. We know the power’s there, but like any new platform it’s going to take us a little bit of time to unleash it.

Was it more complex than we were expecting? Yes, probably; there were some challenges that we didn’t expect. We’ve got tremendous confidence long-term that it’s going to be a phenomenal games machine.”

Very interesting.

So at launch, and at only 20% of potential, the PS3 is already looking every bit as good, (if not better) than the XBox 360 an entire year after launch? The PS3 was a bit more expensive than the 360 to begin with, but is it really this much more powerful? The 360 is certainly well beyond 20% potential right now.

Personally I don’t think this will effect one groups opinion over the other, however. After all, XBox fans still have Halo 3 to look forward to, and PlayStation fans have an infinite number of Final Fantasy titles coming their way. No matter how good the graphics, it still comes down to personal game preference. Third party games just don’t sell consoles.