Ubisoft developer calls for making 40 FPS the standard for consoles

Anchel Labena, a video game producer at Ubisoft, believes that a frame rate of 40 frames per second (FPS) should become the new standard for console games, providing an optimal balance between gameplay smoothness and image quality.

Anchel Labena, a Spanish video game developer who worked on Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora at the Swedish studio Massive Entertainment (owned by Ubisoft), shared his thoughts on the ideal frame rate for console games. His comments came after viewing a video from Digital Foundry about the game Star Wars Outlaws.

Labena asserts that theIn Star Wars Outlaws, the "Quality" mode with 40 FPS is available for 120 Hz displays 40 FPS mode offers the perfect compromise between gameplay smoothness and graphics quality. He claims that this mode allows for low input lag while maintaining high image quality.

Watching @digitalfoundry‘s video on #StarWarsOutlaws only reinforces my opinion that 40 FPS modes on consoles should become a standard. It keeps games feeling smooth, with low input lag while still keeping a robust image quality. The perfect trade-off! pic.twitter.com/TC2xvd7Zc4

— Anchel Labena (@Anchel) September 6, 2024

The developer notes that in Star Wars Outlaws, ray tracing technology is utilized across all performance modes. This significantly enhances the visual component of the game, but requires additional resources from the console.

Labena's comments have sparked a discussion among gamers. Some users feel that 40 FPS represents a step backward, insisting that 60 FPS should remain the standard for modern games. They urge developers to optimize their projects or slightly reduce graphical complexity for improved performance.

You can choose 60 FPS modes if that's your preference. But in console games that use ray-tracing features, it's not uncommon to see those disabled in 60 FPS modes.
Outlaws uses ray-tracing in ALL modes, and 40 FPS mode is a great compromise between resolution and performance.

— Anchel Labena (@Anchel) September 6, 2024

In response to the criticism, Labena emphasized that players will always have the option to select a performance mode based on their preferences. He explained that in console games with ray tracing, this feature often needs to be disabled to achieve 60 FPS.