The PS5’s New Graphics-Upscaling Trick Is Spreading To More Games

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Sony has announced that several more games are getting a Quick Spectral Super Resolution (QSSR) upgrade on PS5. Introduced in September, QSSR is an AI-guided upscaling technology similar to the PS5 Pro's PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), and it originally supported only Marvel's Wolverine and Ghost of Yotei. That lineup is expanding over the next couple of weeks to include games like Control Resonant, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Arc Raiders, The Finals, No Man's Sky, and Hell Let Loose: Vietnam.While it's not quite as good as PSSR on the PS5 Pro, QSSR still does a noticeable job of adding detail and clarity without impacting performance. Sony added that since QSSR shares elements with PSSR, it makes games that support the PS5 Pro upscaling tech a "natural" fit for an upgrade on regular PS5 consoles.https://youtu.be/JYEQkLnlV7oMarvel's Spider-Man 2 is a good example, given Insomniac Games' familiarity with PSSR. The QSSR update is now available for the game, and Insomniac's head of technology, Mike Fitzgerald, said it'll apply to both Fidelity and Performance modes. For Control Resonant, Remedy Entertainment senior graphics programmer Erik Jansson said that QSSR will offer noticeable improvements in image stability and fine detail, and the update will be available in December.While there's no exact date for when Arc Raiders and The Finals will be updated, players can expect "increased sharpness, better environmental clarity and overall visual improvements," according to Embarl Studios technical art director Mikael Linderholm. Hello Games founder Sean Murray said that the No Man's Sky QSSR update will be out in a "few weeks" and will see the game look sharper on PS5 while maintaining "the best possible" frame rate.Finally, Paul Rustchynsky, game director at Expression Games, said that Hell Let Loose: Vietnam will also look cleaner and sharper on PS5 when the update is eventually available. If you're interested in seeing how different several of the games look with QSSR enabled, you can click the links below to see comparison videos:Control ResonantArc RaidersNo Man's SkyHell Let Loose: VietnamThe PS5 turns six years old later this month, and as of November 10, it has surpassed 100 million consoles sold. Ordinarily, all eyes would be on the next PlayStation generation at this point--which Sony says it is working on--and advances like QSSR may squeeze more life out of the PS5 before its successor arrives. Whatever form the next PlayStation takes, don't expect it to be cheap, as the current generation has gotten more expensive since 2020 and the PS6 could cost over $1,000. Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden recently touched on the topic, and he spoke about how true innovation from Sony would come in the form of cheaper hardware, not just better graphics.