Since they announced backward compatibility on the Xbox One, Microsoft has been very proactive in making a majority of their vast library of games available on modern consoles. That gamer-first mentality is something they doubled down on with the launch of the Xbox Series X|S. From having hundreds of Xbox games, going all the way back to other OG Xbox, being playable on day one of the new hardware to working to ensure those games can run like never before, the back-compat team has been busy.
There are two different ways for back-compat games to look and play better. The first is work done by the developers themselves to go back to older games and release updates to increase performance. This could be as simple as uncapping the previously locked framerate or as complex as doing major changes to the original code. The second is work done by Microsoft’s own team, creating programs that can dynamically scale and color games like never before. In fact, both those things are already being done to enhance certain games on the Xbox Series X|S. Today, Microsoft has announced another such feature that can take advantage of the new consoles’ increased CPU, GPU, and memory. This new feature is called FPS boost.
FPS Boost can double or quadruple the original framerate on select backward compatibility titles. Before you get all excited and start loading up games from your backlog, this is still early on in execution and only five games are being given the special treatment to start. Starting today, you can play Far Cry 4, New Super Lucky’s Tale, Sniper Elite 4, UFC 4, and Watch Dogs 2 on your Xbox Series X|S and see smoother framerates. New Super Lucky’s Tale can run up to 120fps and UFC 4 can run on the Xbox Series S at up to 60fps. These are just select titles for the launch of the feature, and more titles will be supported in the future.
Lastly, it’s no secret that sometimes these enhancements don’t always work as advertised. In that case, or perhaps because you just prefer playing games for the “authentic” experience, players can toggle the FPS Boost and Auto HDR features on and off when they go to “Compatability Options” in settings. These new options will be rolled out with an upcoming system updated.
In perhaps a subtle flex in the announcement post on Xbox Wire, Microsoft has also stated that a lot of the upcoming FPS Boost games will be available on Xbox Game Pass. As of now, New Super Lucky’s Tale and Sniper Elite 4 are playable on the service. For a more in-depth look at FPS Boost, click here to watch the Digital Foundry analysis. For recommendations on what Xbox Game Pass titles you should play next, click here.
