AMD says FSR 4.1 upscaling is coming to Xbox consoles, no date given

AMD has announced that it is bringing its FSR 4.1 upscaling technology to Xbox consoles, The Verge, GameSpot and Engadget reported on 20 October. The Verge said the list includes the Xbox Series S and X, laptops, Radeon RX 6000-series GPUs and handhelds such as the Xbox Ally X devices. Engadget listed the Ally X, Ally X20, Ally S and original Ally among the handhelds. [ 1 , 3 , 4 ]

According to The Verge, FSR 4.1 starts appearing today for Radeon RX 6000-series GPUs, Ryzen AI Max 300 and 400 series devices, and Ryzen AI 9 300 and 400 series devices, through the Adrenalin Edition 26.10.1 drivers. Engadget added that the technology is already available for 7000-series cards. The Verge said AMD launched FSR 4.1 for Radeon RX 9000-series graphics cards in March and promised to extend it to older GPUs and handhelds this year. [ 1 , 4 ]

Xbox owners will have to wait. The Verge said neither Microsoft nor AMD will say when FSR 4.1 will arrive on Xbox consoles, and it is listed as "coming soon". Engadget said it has no timeline, that a video suggests the Xbox Ally X will get it before the end of the year, and that it has asked Microsoft for a timeline. [ 1 , 4 ]

Xbox chief technology officer Scott Van Vliet said: "We've worked very closely with AMD to optimize this technology, giving developers another powerful tool for great performance and visual quality for players." The Verge also quoted him as saying the teams are continuing to work together and that there is more ahead with Project Helix, leveraging FSR Diamond. GameSpot cited him in the announcement video describing AMD as an important partner for more than two decades. [ 1 , 3 , 4 ]

Engadget described FSR as a proprietary technology that renders a game at a lower resolution to conserve resources and uses machine learning to create a sharper image. GameSpot said it is a machine-learning-based temporal upscaling and reconstruction technology. The Verge said FSR 4.1 can improve performance in more than 300 supported games, including Cyberpunk 2077, Battlefield 6 and Assassin's Creed Shadows. [ 1 , 3 , 4 ]

The outlets commented on the likely effect. Engadget said the Series X and Ally X are already very powerful, so the benefit will likely be for owners of the Series S, Ally S or original Ally. GameSpot said it is highly doubtful the Xbox Series X and S will offer PS5 Pro-like graphics because both consoles lack dedicated hardware for machine-learning algorithms, but said owners should still see a noticeable bump if it is implemented properly. [ 3 , 4 ]

The announcement came weeks after Sony and AMD brought Quick Spectral Super Resolution to the base PS5, based on their Project Amethyst work, The Verge reported. AMD's Jack Huynh said: "We want to bring that work to more gamers." Engadget said the Sony technology works similarly to PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution on the PS5 Pro. [ 1 , 4 ]