Microsoft clarified some information about FPS Boost, the newly announced enhancement feature that can be applied to backward compatible games.
In mid-February, Microsoft announced the first set of backward-compatible titles to take advantage of FPS Boost, a feature that improves older games with higher and more stable frame rates to make games visually smoother.
Working at a system level, the feature has the ability to boost Xbox One games to run at up to four times their original frame rate.
If you were waiting for a title your favorite legacy to receive this treatment, however, there may be disappointment ahead.
Xbox director of program management Jason Ronald accessed Major Nelson’s last podcast this week to further explain the feature (above).
During a podcast chat, Ronald shared information about how Microsoft cannot implement the update on all legacy games, thanks to how some titles are designed to work at their original frame rates.
“Unfortunately, this technique doesn’t work on all titles,” he explained (thanks, VGC). “In some cases, the way the game was originally written … as we did some tests on some of these titles, we saw animations running twice as fast, or physics running twice as fast.
“What’s extremely important to us is that we always respect the original intent of the creator, so that’s why we can do this at the platform level and then we work with the developer and the publisher and make sure they still believe it really aligns with what they originally intended. “
The first games that will benefit from the new feature are Far Cry 4, New Super Lucky’s Tale, Sniper Elite 4, UFC 4 and Watch Dogs 2, and more will be announced soon.
As for which games will be updated with enhanced FPS, Microsoft noted that this becomes a matter of popularity. Microsoft plans to release a new update to the Xbox series this spring that will bring new menu icons and system settings that make managing your FPS settings more intuitive.