2023 was one of themost fatal years for PC gamingI can remember . In terms of highlights , we had games likeStar Wars Jedi : Survivor , The Outer Worlds : Spacer ’s Choice Edition , andStarfield , each hype up as major launch . Regardless of what you thought about these games , they had awful carrying out effect on personal computer at release , and as much as I hoped we ’d see a course correction this year , that has n’t been the case .
The major issues face personal computer gaming today are for the most part the same as the issue it faced at this same point last year . What ’s thwarting is that the take in microcomputer gaming today are solvable . Here ’s what we saw this year , and how I go for the situation can meliorate in the next 12 month .
Unreal Engine 5 still stutters
Unreal Engine 5 . Need I say more ? It ’s not a good thought to attribute performance issues entirely to one biz engine . It ’s a combination of developer , technical school , and workflow that ultimately leads to performance issues in PC spill , so you ca n’t immobilize blame solely on the engine a developer chooses to use . If stratum design makes monumental level and artist build up extremely - detail meshes , and tech is n’t brought into those conversations , well , you’re able to see what can go wrong with declamatory AAA games during development .
But Unreal Engine 5 certainly does n’t have a good running disk .
There were some early stumbles in games likeImmortals of AveumandLords of the Fallen , but as the year has continued and we ’ve check an uptick in UE5 game , there ’s been a clearer style of issues . I ’m babble out about games likeSilent Hill 2 , Stalker 2,andBlack Myth : Wukong , and that’sbefore talking about Intel ’s struggleswith UE5 in game likeTekken 8 .
The engine now let in automatic PSO hoard and on - need shader compilation , both of whichshouldreduce stuttering . It just does n’t seem to be lick . I ca n’t consider of a more inconsistent secret plan I ’ve played this year thanSilent Hill 2,which should be smooth given its relatively slow , methodical movement . disregarding , so much as flipping the camera around make a vast hitch , which is n’t uncommon in games throng Unreal Engine 5 .
It ’d be less easy to immobilize rap on UE5 if we did n’t see so many secret plan using different technical school to much bully burden . Indiana Jones and the Great Circle — despite some problems that I ’ll get to next — is a rock - upstanding experience with its employment of idTech 7.Dragon Age : The Veilguardis a perfect showcase for how powerful the FrostBite engine really is . AndLike a Dragon : Infinite Wealthshows that the RGG Dragon Engine still has leg .
There are exceptions , of course — most notablyDragon ’s Dogma 2and its use of the RE Engine . But nearly every UE5 game I ’ve played this year has suffered from some form of stammer . Hopefully that wo n’t continue into next twelvemonth because there area lotof games slated to use Unreal Engine 5 , includingAvowed , The Witcher 4 , Borderlands 4,andMetal Gear Solid Delta : Snake Eater .
VRAM is more important than ever
outdoors of stuttering , the other big conversation inPC gambling has been VRAM . The issue start late in 2022 and really came to the forefront in 2023 , with games likeResident Evil 4 , The Callisto Protocol , The Last of Us Part I , andRedfallstruggling to reach playable frame rate on 8 GB computer graphic cards , specially at eminent resolutions and graphics setting .
Games likeIndiana Jones and the Great Circleshow that the VRAM yield is getting worse , not better . This is a game that can even land the RTX 3080 and its 10 GB of VRAM to its stifle at 1080p . you’re able to get just performance byturning down your graphics configurations , but it ’s a trouble that a new 8 GB art carte du jour ca n’t max - out a AAA release at 1080p — just due to VRAM limitations .
I do n’t conceive we ’re going back here . There have been plenty disputation about how grownup the VRAM upshot really is , andhow much you may dowith the whole memory system to improve performance without just slap another memory module on a GPU . But as AAA game continue to become tumid and more detailed , and as they try out with more advanced ignition through ray describe onfull - on path tracing , VRAM electrical capacity only become more significant .
In fairness to AMD and Nvidia , we did n’t see a Modern generation of art cards this year . It ’s fair to call 8 GB GPUs like theRTX 4060 TiandRX 7600short - sighted — something AMD and Nvidia themselves seem to recognize due to the fact that these GPUs have variation with higher memory board capacity — but it ’s also fair for AMD and Nvidia to meet the needs of gamers with products at the fourth dimension they free . And at the time , 8 GB did the line of work , even if sign show game veer in a different centering .
Now , it ’s undeniable . There are still plenty of game that are just fine with 8 GB of VRAM , so I do n’t want to enforce some lofty criterion above that mark . If you just want to playMarvel RivalsorBaldur ’s Gate 3orFortnite , you do n’t have much to worry about . But if AMD and Nvidia really need to sell the idea of a premium 1080p gaming experience in the forthcoming generation , it well be a GPU boxing more than 8 GB of VRAM .
Fixes for 2025
I ’m under no illusions that a young date on the calendar will short define the issues with PC gaming , but there are a couplet of simple ways that PC play could drastically improve in the upcoming year . And hopefully we see those solutions come to fruition .
VRAM is an easy government issue to speak — we need more VRAM on graphics card . That does n’t mean all 8 GB graphics wag require to prick the dust , but I ’d love to see any graphics carte du jour coming in over $ 300 have at least 12 GB onboard . We can speak all day about the pricing of memory mental faculty and manufacturing toll , but frankly , that ’s not the concern of me or you . AMD and Nvidia are some of the largest and wealthiest company in the human beings . Let them figure out the math .
We just got theIntel Arc B580 , which is a $ 250 graphics card bundle 12 GB of VRAM . And sure enough , that extra capability provides some logical performance benefit in game likeIndiana Jones and the Great Circleat 1080p , and in even more games likeForza Motorsportat 1440p . The $ 230 RX 480 release more than eight years ago with 8 GB of VRAM . It ’s fair to call for more out of graphics identity card at $ 300 today .
For stuttering , things are more nebulous . There are a couple of cocksure signs , however . Although automated PSO cache and on - demand shader compilation have been available in Unreal Engine 5 for a while , there ’s a very good luck that the game we look this twelvemonth were n’t using the latest and greatest experimental characteristic of the engine during growing . Now that these lineament have been bake into a few nucleus Unreal Engine 5 updates , I ’m hopeful they ’ll amend the stutter situation on PC .
There are also the advance of Unreal Engine 5 being more mature in ecumenical . As more developer learn how to leverage the locomotive engine in good order , hopefully that leads to more stable experience . That ’s what we see with plot likeLies of Pand Unreal Engine 4 , at least .
There ’s a pile to get excited about in the coming year , both on the secret plan release front with titles likeDoom : The Dark Agesand on the hardware front with new generation from AMD , Nvidia , and Intel . I do n’t think PC gaming ’s issues will go away in the next year , but I trust that some of the major course we ’ve seen over the retiring few years will eventually be put to rest .
