Doom Eternal will pump out 60 frames per second across all supported platforms, a performance bar that id Software set fairly early during development. Where most current-generation games (consoles) have felt comfortable at the halfway mark, 60 frames per second is a threshold that is actually “critical” to Doom Eternal, according to the developer.
Speaking with the Official Xbox Magazine for the latest issue, executive producer Marty Stratton stated that 60 frames per second is not only the baseline but also an important aspect of the upcoming sequel from a technical perspective. He added that Doom Eternal runs smooth on current-generation consoles, so good that in fact the game could be seen as a next-generation PC project.
It’s critical. It’s the most important thing from a technical perspective and it’s the baseline. On all the current-gen hardware and on PC, 60fps is our baseline, and again it runs great. On the consoles it almost looks like a next-gen PC, so players are going to be – particularly on the high-end consoles – really happy with that.
Stratton also noted that the performance magic with Doom Eternal lies with the new Tech 7 engine, which was built alongside the game. Hence, id Software was building a new technology and game at the same time. The work was challenging but pushed both the Tech 7 and Doom Eternal developers to create features and content for each other. This is ultimately why the upcoming sequel is a massive improvement in comparison to the 2016 reboot.
Tech 7 was built at the same time as we built Eternal. That tends to be how we work, building technology and a game at the same time. It’s challenging at times but it creates a very good [environment]… the content team is always pushing the engine team, the engine team is always pushing the content team, so you get this elevation of both that I think pays off in the end for players who can get incredible graphic fidelity, 60fps, on all the same platforms that they played Doom 2016 on. So a real technical feat, honestly, from playing a Doom game and the speed of it, so we’ve really got to be top-notch.
Last month, lead engine programmer Billy Khan took to social media to relay how heavily optimized Doom Eternal is. He called the upcoming sequel as the best game ever made by id Software and like Stratton, hailed the Tech 7 engine for its strengths. Doom Eternal is not only pushing ten times the geometric detail compared to the last installment but also running buttery smooth. The image quality is also something that will leave players surprised. Despite the jump in graphical fidelity, the game will boast smooth combat without any frame-drops. Many staffers from id Software have marked Doom Eternal as nothing but brilliant.
Doom Eternal remains in development for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The game will also release for Nintendo Switch but at a later date that id Software will announce when the time is right. In addition, Doom Eternal is also coming to Google Stadia, which remains without a release date as well.
