Xbox Series X: Boosted FPS Mode to Further Improve Backward Compatibility

17.02.2021

If there is one feature that Microsoft dominates its topic with, it’s backward compatibility. A commitment made by the American giant since 2015 which has made this option one of its workhorses and which has materialized brilliantly since the arrival on the market of the Xbox Series X. Greatly improved texture filtering, Automated HDR conversion, improved performance and reduced load times, playing Xbox 360 or Xbox One games on an Xbox Series X is a fun that many manufacturers should be inspired by. But it seems that Microsoft wants to go even further, as evidenced by the announcement of a new feature that responds to the name of “FPS boost” and which has just been explained in length, width and across through a post – very interesting – on the Xbox Wire. We learn indeed that thanks to this new techno, however still in an embryonic state, that this mode will allow certain games to double (or even quadruple) its framerate without the slightest intervention on the part of the developers.

It seems a bit surreal, but games that have been developed at 30 frames per second for example on Xbox 360 or Xbox One will be able to run at 60fps on Xbox Series X thanks to this “FPS boost” mode. The latter will make it possible to push back the framerate limit at the console system level, and thus exceed the initial target without any intervention in its source code. Microsoft nevertheless specifies that only certain games will be able to benefit from these framerate improvements, but that the objective is obviously to generalize as much as possible this practice which should not only relieve the work of the developers, but also satisfy the demand of the players. Moreover, the first games that can already benefit from this FPS Boost right now are Far Cry 4, New Super Lucky’s Tale, Sniper Elite 4, UFC 4 and Watch Dogs 2. We learn that New Super Lucky’s Tale Now runs at 120 fps, while UFC 4 puts in a nice 60 fps, even on Xbox Series S.

More games will arrive and Microsoft promises to announce the rosters regularly, knowing that the player will be notified of improvements thanks to the integration of new icons as well as dedicated settings in a future system update. It will indeed be possible to go to the game options and in the “Manage the game” section, we can activate or deactivate the FPS Boost, but also the Auto HDR mode. Better, we will be warned visually if the game we are playing benefits or not from the FPS Boost. Just press the Guide button on the Xbox controller. We can even switch between the two versions of the game, the one with its original technical options or its version optimized by FPS Boost. Clean.