Xbox Series X just gave these games a big performance boost — your move, PS5

News
By
published

Xbox Series X gets a leg up in backwards compatibility against PS5

Xbox Series X just gave these games a big performance boost — your move, PS5
(Image credit: Phil Barker/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

Microsoft just announced FPS boost, a new feature for Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S that will allow certain Xbox One games to look and feel a lot smoother. The feature, as the name suggests, takes an older Xbox One game, and with the added power of the Series X and S, ups to frames per second to double or even quadruple its original. 

At the moment, the games include Far Cry 4, New Super Lucky’s Tale, Sniper Elite 4, UFC 4, and Watch Dogs 2. If your favorite game from last-gen isn't on here, don't worry, more titles will be coming.

Starting today, Xbox Series X owners can go into the Manage Game section for any of the titles listed above and click on Compatibility Options. From there, players can toggle FPS Boost, as well as auto HDR. When in game, a quick press of the Xbox button will indicate if FPS Boost is currently active.

Games like New Super Lucky's Tale will see a boost to 120 fps while UFC 4 will jump to 60. Anyone with an Xbox Game Pass subscription will be able to download and try FPS Boost now with New Super Lucky's Tale and Sniper Elite 4. 

These aren't the first games to get an enhancement on Xbox Series X. Certain Microsoft-developed Xbox One titles, like Gears of War 5, Forza Horizon 4, and Sea of Thieves have all seen major upgrades on the more powerful hardware. But games such as these, as well as a few cross-gen third-party titles, required work from developers to ensure things worked smoothly. With FPS Boost, this increase in performance is automatic. While developers are consulted, Microsoft can essentially give any old title a performance boost with hardware acceleration alone.

This ups the backwards compatibility fight between Xbox Series X and PS5. At the moment, the PS5 is only backwards compatible with PS4 games. And only a select few PS4 games have seen a performance increase on PS5, such as God of War and Ghost of Tsushima. 

The Xbox Series X, however, has backwards compatibility going back to the original Xbox. Granted, only a select few titles are supported. We've actually compiled a list of 11 Xbox Series X backwards compatible games we want to see. Whether Microsoft decides to put in the effort to bring some of our favorites over remains to be seen.

Imad Khan
Imad Khan

Imad is currently Senior Google and Internet Culture reporter for CNET, but until recently was News Editor at Tom's Guide. Hailing from Texas, Imad started his journalism career in 2013 and has amassed bylines with the New York Times, the Washington Post, ESPN, Wired and Men's Health Magazine, among others. Outside of work, you can find him sitting blankly in front of a Word document trying desperately to write the first pages of a new book.