It turns out that the Xbox Game Studios title Ori and the Blind Forest actually runs better on the Nintendo Switch than it does on Microsoft's Xbox One. The title is the latest move in many from Microsoft to captalize on the success of the rival gaming console. Other inaitives have included Cuphead arriving on Switch and the arrival of Banjo and Kazooie in Smash Bros Ultimate.
The next major step in this blossoming partnership is the Xbox Game Studios title Ori and the Blind Forest on Switch. The game only just arrived on Nintendo Switch, but fans have begun to notice that the game runs well. Like, really, really well. As it tuns out, they're right to notice, because the game runs better on the Nintendo Switch than it does on any other console. That's right, an Xbox-made game runs better on Nintendo hardware.
Game Director at Moon Studios, Thomas Mahler, took to ResetEra to talk about the enhancements made to Ori and the Blind Forest for its debut on Nintendo Switch. According to Mahler, the team has learned how to better run its games through years of work and the production of a sequel. The result of all of this is a smoother running game.
"Keep in mind that we've been working with our engine for a good 10 years now and went through multiple releases and a sequel now. A lot of the optimizations we did for Will of the Wisps ended up in the Blind Forest version for Switch, so that was a nice side-effect."
Mahler then broke down the improvements that the Switch version has over the Xbox One edition of the game. Namely, Ori and the Blind Forest runs at 60 frames per second, a noticeable step up from the 30fps that the game runs on for Xbox One. Understandably, the result of this means that sprites animate much smoother on the Nintendo console.
"Another thing people maybe don't notice immediately is that Ori's sprites were animated at 30fps on Xbox/PC, but for Switch we were actually able to update the animations to 60fps due to all the optimizations, so technically Ori actually even animates a bit smoother on Switch than on the other platforms :)"
It's great to see that Xbox is pushing for quality ports rather than pursuing a quck turnaround. Additionally, it seems evident that Microsoft has larger plans in place for future partnerships with Nintendo. Even then, it's hard to tell just how far the companies will push these sorts of collaborations given the X-shaped elephant in the room.
Previous reports did state that Microsoft wants to bring Xbox Game Pass to Switch eventually, which has yet to bear fruit. Keeping in mind that those same reports also ousted Ori and the Blind Forest on Switch, this feels more like a "when" and not an "if" scenario. Of course, all of that reamins to be seen. In the meantime, Ori is a great game for Nintendo Switch owners.
Source: ResetEra