The Genshin Impact 2.0 update will not be adding ray-tracing, according to technical director Zhenzhong Yi.
One of the biggest selling points of next-gen hardware is ray-tracing. To put it simply, ray-tracing is the realistic rendering of light to simulate how it actually works in our world. You can see it in effect with Spider-Man PS5 by looking at glass windows on buildings where you'll get an accurate, real-time reflection of the wallcrawler and the surrounding environment. The reason that it's a next-gen feature – being that it isn't possible on older hardware – is that it is highly demanding due to it rendering in real-time as opposed to being pre-determined and artificial. Now, consoles are beefy enough to keep up.
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"Ray-tracing on PS5 can help create more realistic rendering images," Yi told GamesIndustry.biz, "However, adding it into Genshin Impact will take huge efforts from both our artists and developers if we want to stay with our current art style to present the authentic look of Teyvat. So, given the efforts required versus the actual level of enhancement it may provide in player experiences, we decided to bring out some other features which may greatly improve player experiences first."
For context, Genshin Impact is getting a Version 2.0 update later this month on July 21. It brings cross-platform compatibility with PlayStation which is something that wasn't previously possible. Prior to Version 2.0, the only cross-platform progression was with mobile and PC.
Yi said, "Genshin Impact was envisioned as a cross-platform game from the get-go because we want to give players more freedom on how and where they want to continue their game."
The focus seems to be more on that initial vision as well as the implementation of the brand new Inazuma region. Perhaps ray-tracing will eventually come to the game but right now, it isn't at the top of miHoYo's list of priorities.
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