EA Crytek's blockbuster title for spring 2013, Crysis 3, promises to be equally visually intense for DirectX 11 PCs and consoles, not because the PC version will be running, strictly speaking, a "console-port", but that the console version will be running a "PC-port". Crytek is developing ways in which visual effects possible with DirectX 11 PC graphics hardware can be reproduced on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, by making the console hardware work in a way it's normally incapable of. This could be coming up with custom code for each new kind of visual effect."We want to make sure as much as is humanly possible can translate from a DX11 variant into a DX9 variant, that will work almost as good on an Xbox console to whatever extent we can, because we don't want the experience to be different between the platforms," Rasmus Højengaard, director of creative development at Crytek, told Eurogamer. "It is very, very difficult, but it is possible. It just requires a lot of effort. Some of the stuff these guys are making work on consoles now is absolutely amazing. It's render features that shouldn't theoretically work on consoles, but they've managed to construct code that can emulate a similar thing from a… hack and slash sounds wrong, but they don't have the same streamlined pipeline you would have with a DX11 structure, but they can get to a similar result just by experimenting and using tips and tricks," he added.

To cite an example of that, Højengaard said that while he couldn't confirm that Crysis 3 for consoles could feature parallax occlusion mapping (a very advanced, resource-intensive feature), Crytek has managed to get it to work on console hardware. "That's a very advanced feature, and it shouldn't theoretically run on a 360, but they made it run on a 360," he commented. Højengaard's statements come with a rider, that Crytek will not implement DirectX 11-like visual effects if they severely impact performance. "What it all boils down to is to what extent they're able to use this without choking the console," he said.