Microsoft has always been a bit more gung-ho about backward-compatible gaming than its rival Sony. The Xbox Series X can play games that were launched several generations ago. Continuing its commitment to backward compatibility, Xbox is poised to give older titles a massive frames-per-second (fps) boost.
Most previous-gen titles benefited from the Series X's current-gen capabilities, including faster load times and the Quick Resume feature. Now, gamers will get to watch the frame rates of their favorite titles double (and in some cases, quadruple) thanks to the efforts of Xbox's backward-compatibility team.
Older Xbox titles to get a huge FPS boost
Xbox's backward-compatibility team has developed FPS Boost, which employs a variety of methods to double or quadruple the frame rates of previous-gen games. Developers do not need to put in any additional work and updates are not needed by gamers.
"We’re excited to announce the first assortment of backward compatible titles that will support FPS Boost – available beginning today – are Far Cry 4, New Super Lucky’s Tale, Sniper Elite 4, UFC 4, and Watch Dogs 2," Xbox's Senior Program Manager Paul Eng said.
New Super Lucky's Tale can now run up to 120 fps while UFC 4 can currently serve up to 60fps, according to Xbox. Microsoft's new FPS Boost isn't applicable to all games. While some titles will benefit from the buttery-smooth experience that comes with FPS Boost, others don't. The Redmond-based tech giant also insinuated that it would focus more on top-popular games.
Starting this spring, Xbox Series X (and Series S) users can switch on FPS Boost by going to Manage Game > Compatibility Options > FPS Boost. Microsoft also created a new indicator that informs users whether their game is running FPS Boost; this indicator will appear when the user presses the Xbox button on the controller.
Microsoft promises that this is just the beginning; it plans to announce more titles with FPS Boost in the near future.
