PS5 Pro’s AI upscaling comes to base PS5, but there’s a catch

Sony is bringing AI-powered upscaling to the standard PS5, potentially making games look sharper without players needing to upgrade to a PS5 Pro.

The new technology is called Quick Spectral Super Resolution (QSSR), and can take a game running at a lower resolution and use AI to produce a clearer, more detailed image on your screen.

Until now, Sony’s equivalent technology has been PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), which is exclusive to the more powerful PS5 Pro. It examines the image pixel by pixel and reconstructs it with extra detail while also attempting to keep the picture stable during movement.

Sony says PSSR requires too much computing power to work on a regular PS5, so it developed QSSR as a less demanding alternative.

Importantly, this doesn’t mean a standard PS5 will suddenly produce exactly the same visuals as a PS5 Pro. Sony still describes PSSR as its best upscaling solution, while QSSR is specifically designed to work within the limitations of the original console.

However, the company says PS5 owners should see improvements to both image detail and stability when playing games that support it.

Which PS5 games support QSSR?

Marvel’s Wolverine and Ghost of Yōtei are the first games to support QSSR, with both receiving patches that add it as another graphics option.

Sony

Insomniac Games says the feature gives Wolverine‘s environments more “pixel-level clarity and stability,” helping smaller details stand out in areas such as Madripoor and Shinjuku.

Meanwhile, Sucker Punch says QSSR allows Ghost of Yōtei to display fine details in its characters and environments with greater stability.

Those two games are only the beginning, as Sony plans to make QSSR available to all PlayStation developers.

That doesn’t guarantee every PS5 game will automatically look better, as developers will need to implement the technology themselves. But it opens the door for more games to receive some of the image-quality benefits previously reserved for PS5 Pro owners.