Gaming: Fraction Of The Most Popular PC Games Over The Past Year Use...

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There was a long period of time where the phrase 'ray tracing' was almost inescapable and slapped onto all the prettiest-looking games. However, as the memory crisis continues to devastate hardware prices, and game performance gets even more unpredictable, optimised games have become a real sign of a quality launch. And now, ray tracing is a bit of a rarity among the most popular new games.

Looking back at the last 12 months of the biggest games, I've spotted a mere handful that have ray tracing of any kind (optional or not), with only a few baking it into moment-to-moment interactions.

I've checked through the Steam player figures, incorporating both the top 100 for player currents right now, plus the top 100 for all-time player peak, and spotted a peculiar trend. Of 21 games, only 5 have proper ray tracing, and one of those five (Monster Hunter Wilds) only uses it for simple reflections.

Source: PC Gamer