PC gaming comes with plenty of perks that consoles lack, such as mods, upgradable hardware (beyond system storage), and the latest in CPU/GPU technology. Another big benefit is extensive support for newer standards, such as ultrawide resolutions, but one company is trying to even the playing field.
According to a rep who spoke with PCGamesN, Samsung has been in active talks with Microsoft about bringing ultrawide monitor support to the Xbox. The console is currently locked at 16:9, but the Korean giant is “pushing” the company to adopt wider aspect ratios, such as 21:9 and 32:9.
This is an interesting problem from a performance standpoint, however. How is a console going to pull off resolutions such as 2560 x 1080 and 3840 x 1080 (the bare minimums for ultrawide monitors on the current market) when native 1080p @ 60 FPS is still a regular struggle? There are a few solutions such as upscaling, geometry rendering, and checkerboarding, but image quality might be a concern.
The next generation of consoles will presumably have the graphical muscle to render that argument moot, but developer support could be another issue. Ultrawide gaming is still relatively niche, so there’s no telling how many devs would spend the time to implement these options. Even in the PC world, games with native ultrawide support are relatively rare.
Still, we have Samsung to thank If ultrawide support does eventually proliferate the console space. The company probably just wants to sell more monitors, but there’s no arguing that wider aspect ratios make for a more immersive gaming experience.