Microsoft and Sony are often bitter rivals in the console market. Sony’s PS4 has defeated the Xbox One in terms of sales through the current generation and competition is increasing. However, the companies have surprisingly collaborated on a project that could have benefits for gamers.
In a joint announcement, Microsoft and Sony confirmed a new industry-wide interest group called the HDR Gaming Interest Group (HGIG). Joining other tech giants, the companies want to improve HDR Gaming for consumers.
Joining Microsoft and Sony are leading companies from game and TV. For example, LG and Vizio are direct collaborators in the HGIG project. Additionally, giants like Panasonic, Philips, Ubisoft, Samsung, EA, and more have shown interest in joining.
“HDR Gaming Interest Group, with participation of leading companies from the entertainment, game and TV industries, analyzed issues behind the negative reactions from consumers about HDR games and recommend the guidelines for HDR game production,” Microsoft and Sony wrote.
“In sum, the core element of the recommendation is to produce an HDR game that parameterizes its tone mapper when given information about an HDR display’s tone mapper. This will compensate for the variance in how displays handle HDR.”
Creating Standard
The goal is for the companies to collaborate to find standards for HDR hardware and to provide games with forward compatibility to match changing hardware. Using a HDMI connection, the standard would let a device or game console know which screen is being used.
“This collection of best practices proposed in the guideline will be easy to implement and will also support improved operability,” said HGIG.
“The HGIG is welcoming broad participation from the gaming and TV display industry and intends to further investigate additional best practices for improved technical standards relating to HDR gaming, and plans to improve on the guidelines to deliver the more immersive gaming experience made possible by HDR.”
