PlayStation 4 developers are limited to using 4.5GBs to develop their games, claims a new report.
Digital Foundry says that, according to internal Sony documentation leaked via a 'development source', the console reserves up to 3.5GBs (of its 8GBs) of RAM for the operating system, leaving developers 4.5GBs to play with.
Citing 'other sources close to Sony', however, the report says this benchmark can be "flexible" by up to 1GB, meaning developers can request access to a full 5.5GBs of RAM, but only if the PS4's operating system processes are streamlined enough to accommodate the drop in its allocation.
PS4 dev kits apparently allow developers to switch between the two memory profiles manually using a 'Game Memory Budget Mode' option ('Normal' being 4.5GBs, and 'Large' being 5.5GBs), but its said that developers are only guaranteed a budget of 4.5GBs.
This is comparable to Xbox One which, according to previous widespread reports, reserves three of its 8GBs of RAM for system processes, offering devs 5GBs for game development. But Digital Foundry claims that the key difference is that the Xbox One's OS allocation is rigid.
PS4's OS-allotment flexibility is said to allow Sony the ability to increase RAM for game development should future versions of the console's OS become more streamlined, thus gradually opening up more RAM to devs. It is thought that launch-day PS4 titles will use the more sure-fire 'Normal' memory profile.
Microsoft Studios head Phil Spencer today said Microsoft's "goal" is to allow indie devs full access to Xbox One's "full pool of resources", contrary to prior claims of a force indie 'RAM limit'.
