Gotham Knights is set to launch this week on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. The game, which was originally set to launch on PS4 and Xbox One, was cancelled on last-gen systems a few months ago following performance issues on the consoles. You would think that cancelling these versions would have helped improve the visual experience of the game but sadly, it didn’t. Even with WB Games dropping last-gen consoles, the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions are capped at 30FPS. There’s also no performance mode in the game whatsoever.
Gotham Knights producer Fleur Marty confirmed the frame rate cap on Discord blaming the co-op features for the graphical limitations. Marty says that due to the game’s seamless co-op experience, a performance mode isn’t possible on the game. She says that lowering the resolution and increasing the frame rate in Gotham Knights isn’t possible due to the way the game handles its co-op mode.
“I know many of you are wondering about the availability of a performance mode for Gotham Knights on consoles. Due to the types of features we have in our game, like providing a fully untethered co-op experience in our highly detailed open-world, it’s not as straightforward as lowering the resolution and getting a higher FPS. For this reason, our game does not have a performance/quality toggle option and will run at 30 fps on consoles.”
Since the announcement, fans have been complaining about the lack of a performance mode in Gotham Knights. Considering the game’s PS5 and Xbox Series X/S exclusivity, fans believe it should have been a mode implemented in the game from day one. However, it seems that once again, Microsoft’s Xbox Series S console is holding development back for everyone.
According to a developer at Rocksteady Games, the Xbox Series S’ “potato” GPU might be the reason why the game’s frame rate could not be increased. Senior character and technical artist at the studio Lee Devonald claims that the Xbox Series S is the lowest performer when it comes to gaming power. In a series of Tweets (which are now deleted), he says that games lose a lot of things in order to get them running at 60FPS.
Devonald says that he wishes gamers would understand the technical aspects that go into making video games, especially considering the new consoles aren’t much better than the last-gen versions.
Of course, the Tweet led to thousands of gamers attacking each other about resolutions and frame rates. Many of them claim that other games run at 60FPS on the Xbox Series S and there shouldn’t be any reason why Gotham Knights doesn’t.
Gotham Knights releases this Friday, 21 October for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. It will run at 30FPS on consoles. The game will also get a dedicated four-player co-op mode in November.
