Quick Spectral Super Resolution (QSSR), the new AI upscaling technology for PS5, may have compatibility challenges with older games.
During a recent episode of DF Direct Q+A, Digital Foundry’s Richard Leadbetter mentioned hearing that the availability of PSSR within the PS5 Software Development Kit (SDK) may be “a bit of a challenge” in bringing the feature to existing titles. If the option to implement the AI upscaling technology isn’t present in earlier versions of the SDK, developers may need to update their existing games to a newer version before implementing the upscaling solution.
This could make retrofitting older PS5 games with QSSR a more complicated endeavor. Leadbetter compared the situation with the PS5 Pro’s PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), which included provisions allowing developers to add support to games running on earlier SDK versions.
Another potential limitation involves the potential lack of a system-level implementation. According to Leadbetter, QSSR doesn’t appear to have the same kind of centralized library that enabled Sony Interactive Entertainment to introduce certain PSSR improvements through a more straightforward upgrade path.
QSSR can deliver meaningful improvements to games that struggle with image quality at lower internal resolutions. The technology uses AI-assisted image reconstruction to produce a sharper output, reducing visual artifacts and improving detail compared to other upscaling methods available on the base console. However, its effectiveness will depend on individual implementations, developer support, and the technical requirements involved in updating existing titles.
Marvel’s Wolverine and Ghost of Yōtei are the first games to support QSSR, with both receiving patches that add it as an additional graphics option. Insomniac Games said QSSR improves pixel-level clarity and stability in Marvel’s Wolverine, helping reveal additional detail across the game’s environments. Sucker Punch Productions similarly said QSSR improves fine detail in characters and environments in Ghost of Yōtei, while providing a level of temporal stability that was previously unavailable on PS5.
