Microsoft Unveils The First Batch Of 'FPS Boost' Games For Xbox Series X|S

Awesome news! Terrible starting lineup though

Great, agree nothing I'd really want to go back and play in the initial lineup, but hoping this will continue to grow!

Already somewhat disappointed. I understand why MS is doing this, but having to get the greenlight from the game publisher is going to drastically hamper this feature.

It's going to be nice on all supported games, but that list will be disappointingly short.

@Tharsman How developers will have to go about implementing something like doubling framerates will vary drastically depending on the game, rendering techniques, physics engine, etc. It's something that'll have to grow steadily over time, just like the backwards compatibility lineups on Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

@VenomousAlbino that is not the part that disappoints me, those are technical issues.

My disappointment is in the part (based on the interview with Colt on video) that they stated the publisher is asked for permission to even do this. I forsee many publishers blocking the attempt in favor of possibly selling a remaster or ultimate edition.

This is awesome news for me, I finished Farcry 3 last year and absolutely loved it.. I haven't gotten around to playing Farcry 4 yet so this is awesome news..

Good news but bad start lineup, though

They mentioned in one of their interviews that this same trick might work on X360 games as well. Now that would be really impressive. I want Fable Anniversary, Witcher 2 and Red Dead in 60fps!

Good news for 60fps fans. I am still waiting for news regarding more BC titles.

@Dezzy I'm very interested in some of those too. But agree that the remaster greed from publishers may hamper it's progression...

Okay so my question is with a title like Super Luckys Tale, are you going to have toggle off the settings anytime you want to play that game, and don’t have 120fps tv, or does it automatically know and accommodate?

Really got into sniper elite 4 after playing it for a rewards challenge. So much that I got the deluxe ultimate whatever it’s called on sale. So while the starting line up could have more heavy hitters this is pretty cool.

This is cool news ... But I was hoping for some more 360 games added to bc

@Tharsman that's one potential concern, absolutely. However, it's also concerning that a LOT of stock is being put into things like smart delivery and doubled framerates or anything of that ilk being free of charge.

Don't get me wrong, any extra features, graphical prowess, etc being offered for free is undoubtedly great... but we're not automatically entitled to it just because it's the consumer friendly thing for companies to do. Did you get free DVD copies of every film you owned on VHS? How about blu ray? CD's? MP3's?

Companies can't upgrade everything free of charge. As we've already seen, publishers are going to pick and choose which games they upgrade free of charge in order to balance things financially.

@Tharsman I can see the worry; but, at the same time, there is zero cost from the publisher to do this since Microsoft handles the work. It's free advertising and it may actually lead to sales of old games on the Microsoft Store - especially for Series S owners who don't get the benefit of used physical sales on Amazon.

Plus, this still doesn't negate a future remaster since this is purely a framerate adjustment.

I mean, EA allowed this with UFC, and they are notoriously greedy.

I tried Sniper Elite 4 for a weekly quest a while back and it's been on my backlog....so i guess I'll be playing the best version of it now. The 120 FPS is wasted on my as i only have 60 on my TV but great for those that do have it.

In terms of the tech, it's amazing that this is a system level feature and not having to touch the game code.

The worrying aspect is that the game publisher has to sign it off. Can you really see Rockstar allowing MS to boost RDR2 to 60FPS when they've milked GTA V across 3 console generations? I highly doubt it.

I forgot to add to my last post.. I really hope this doesn't lead to more gta4 issues...
For those that don't know it's impossible to beat gta4 without a turbo controller on the series x/ one x

@VenomousAlbino "Did you get free DVD copies of every film you owned on VHS? How about blu ray? CD's? MP3's?"

This is not the same. For one, this is just all on MS, all the publisher does is say "yay/nay". But for what its worth: I have a Samsung Q80T with an MLT upscaler, I have not tested it yet since I mostly just game on that TV, but it attempts to upscale dynamically lower resolution video.

That is a lot closer to what is going here, and the DVD publisher does not get a say on what content I decide to run on that TV with that setting enabled (its technically not even a setting, it is always active unless I'm running on Game Mode.)

Only difference here are technical limitations on games, that are the reason why MS needs to work on a title-per title basis and run QA on the whole game before enabling the FPS Boost.

Edit: mind you, I sort of understand why MS rather work with the publishers, they want to keep healthy relationships with devs, but it still is disappointing they didn't just say "if it passes QA, it gets it."

Absolutely amazing. I can't wait for more games to be added to this list. Literally a game changer.

@GamingFan4Lyf EA has been surprisingly good (outside the yearly sports titles) with this smart delivery stuff, and I think it has a lot to do with EA Play and their partnership with GamePass. Its best for them to just have their back catalog be instantly working on its best quality.

But don't expect much from the likes of Take Two, 505 Games, or [maybe] Activision.

Anyways, disappointments aside, I hope they can do this for the Yakuza games!

@mousieone I don’t know the full ins and outs of it, but I would assume the console will handle it. Like right now I can try and set games (that support it) to 120fps mode but the console automatically detects that my tv doesn’t support it and greys out the option. So I would assume it’ll be a system level function.

None of these appeal to me and I only own 1 of these anyway so somewhat a disappointing line-up but they have to start somewhere I guess. Its also a shame that it seems other 'benefits' are not being seen on some of these - the resolution boost that MS was able to add for example. Considering most of these had no UHD support, just running at 1080p or under, 60fps seems somewhat half hearted. You would think a Series X should run those games at much higher res and 60fps with 'ease'.

Its a a 'start' though so will have to see what games come in the future...

@Tharsman I don't think that will be a issue since this update only improves FPS, but not resolution or textures. So even with the improvement there would still be room for remasters or ultimate editions.

MS on a roll this week! Sounds very promising!

@ChopperCampbell yeah maybe. They said a spring update will allow you turn it off per game.

For Nintendo fans also known as suckers (myself included) this is awesome as still are charged for 30fps Super Mario 64 ports. Of course, I want more games but this is just the beginning.

@Medic_Alert to think they are going to have a lot to show closer to the summer as they really have no ability to keep units on the shelf so they don't need any marketing to push them. Once they get the chips going again and can actually build up stock i imagine they will be pushing the marketing. Now in my short time as an Xbox player i will have to caution everyone that this could be a complete lie and they will drop the marketing ball again when it really counts. Either way my extreme enjoyment of the series x and Gamepass will not be affected.

@Krzzystuff That makes sense and let's not forget those Xbox Game Studios games are still in the oven so when Xbox needs them the most the marketing and games will be ready. Now it's not really necessary.

I keep seeing stuff on this but no dates. Far Crr 4 is still running at a cozy 25FOS or 30FPS with awful frame pacing.

Digital Foundry says that it's made at system level unlike PS5 so we'll see more games using the feature on Xbox. That's also why resolution is the same on Xbox although Xbox One X enhanced games and Series X/S games get a resolution boost. It's going to be interesting seeing Xbox, Xbox 360 and Xbox One games getting the fps boost (Sonic Generations?).

The updates are live! And Far Cry 4 feels amazing in 60 fps and the game holds up well. And in my opinion Far Cry 4 is one of the absolutely best Far Cry games, if not even the best!

Awesome news, nice selection to get the ball rolling.

@VenomousAlbino On the same token, companies didn't charge you more to watch your DVDs on a progressive scan upscaled HD TV versus the release you bought for a 4:3 letterbox CRT. And they don't charge you for CDs when you upgrade from Beats headphones to a set of Athena Rockets on an Arcam tube amp. Upgrading your hardware/platform to squeeze more detail out of media you already own is only locked behind paywalls in the video game space. If Microsoft wants to make a hardware player that produces more detail as part of the hardware proposition, Capcom not making money from the deal shouldn't be part of the equation.