Sony is bringing AI-powered graphics upscaling to the standard PlayStation 5, giving the console access to technology previously reserved for the more powerful PS5 Pro.
Detailed in a PlayStation Blog post, the new technology is called Quick Spectral Super Resolution (QSSR), and it’s a lighter evolution of PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), Sony’s machine-learning upscaler for PS5 Pro. QSSR comes from Project Amethyst, Sony’s ongoing graphics collaboration with AMD. Sony says it uses a streamlined neural network architecture alongside a hand-tuned implementation designed around the standard PS5’s hardware.
The goal is essentially the same as PSSR, which is reconstructing a lower-resolution image into something sharper while improving image stability. That could let developers devote more of the PS5’s available performance to frame rates and other graphical features, rather than rendering everything natively at higher resolutions.
Sony isn’t claiming QSSR matches PS5 Pro, however. The company still calls PSSR its “gold standard,” with QSSR designed to bring some of those benefits to less capable hardware.
Marvel’s Wolverine and Ghost of Yōtei are the first games to support QSSR. Both are receiving patches today that add the technology as an optional graphics setting on PS5. Insomniac says QSSR provides Marvel’s Wolverine with greater pixel-level clarity and stability, helping resolve finer details throughout locations including Madripoor and Shinjuku.
Sucker Punch similarly says QSSR improves fine details across Ghost of Yōtei’s characters and environments while providing a level of temporal stability that wasn’t previously possible on the standard console.
More games should follow. However, no details were provided on which games to expect or how often updates will roll out.
Sony says QSSR will be made broadly available to PlayStation developers, potentially giving the millions of existing PS5 owners some of the image-quality benefits that arrived with PS5 Pro without buying new hardware.
Want to see more of our stories on Google?
P.S. Want to keep this site truly independent? Support us by buying us a beer, treating us to a coffee, or shopping through Amazon here. Links in this post are affiliate links, so we earn a tiny commission at no charge to you. Thanks for supporting independent Canadian media!
