Higher frame rates take more work to enable than faster load times for older games.
Lori Grunin
Senior Editor / Reviews
I’ve been writing about and reviewing consumer technology since before the turn of the century. I’m also a photographer and cat herder, frequently at the same time.
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Watch Dogs 2 is one of the first games to benefit from Microsoft’s FPS Boost on the Xbox Series X and Series S.
Ubisoft
Microsoft has created a new set of software tools for game developers dubbed FPS Boost, which make it possible to quickly improve frame rates of older games running on the new Xbox Series X and Series S game consoles on a case-by-case basis. FPS Boost will be applied to the first compatible games Wednesday via an automatic update. The company also says we’ll see new menu iconography and options in an Xbox update rolling out this spring.
Some benefits automatically apply to all your old games running on the new consoles, thanks to speedier components like solid-state drives and systemwide features like Quick Resume. But despite faster hardware in the consoles, higher frame rates don’t seem to be one of them.
The initial boosted titles are Far Cry 4, New Super Lucky’s Tale, Sniper Elite 4, UFC 4 and Watch Dogs 2. As examples, Microsoft claims New Super Lucky’s Tale can hit up to 120 frames per second, while UFC 4 targets 60 fps on the Xbox Series S. More frame-rate-adjusted titles are forthcoming.
Watch this:
Xbox Series S teardown live at CES 2021
22:55
