Then he dived onto the specifics of the Unreal Engine 5 tech demo and also went on to reassure Xbox fans who might have worried after Epic wouldn’t confirm how that PlayStation 5 demo could run on the upcoming Xbox Series X console. As a follow-up, we also inquired with Peklar about the role that real-time raytracing will take in the upcoming years. Given that PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X will all feature hardware support for raytracing, many gamers thought virtually every game would feature some form of real-time raytracing. However, it turns out that’s not actually the case - Scorn itself won’t support it, for instance, and the Unreal Engine 5 tech demo showcased the amazing Lumen global illumination technique that doesn’t rely on triangle raytracing. Peklar warned that developers shouldn’t shoehorn new technologies such as raytracing into a game just because they can, and added it should be expected on a case-by-case basis only rather than by default. These ‘fakes’ have some limitations. Presentation is more static, effects at certain angles break the illusion, but for the most part, it looks pretty good. Sometimes when the new technology becomes available some developers start overusing it just to show it off, without thinking about the context in which it’s getting used. That is why you are starting to see games that have rooms with all reflective surfaces or inappropriate lighting conditions just to show off the technology. Technology should be in service of what you are trying to accomplish, not the other way around. So yes, Real-time Ray Tracing will undoubtedly be a complete solution in the future, but in the nearest future developers will use it on case to case basis.
