The Xbox Series X / S and PS5 consoles have not yet reached the six-month mark, but game modes that favor performance or visual quality are already common. It seems like not a week goes by without a game receiving an update to allow players to choose between demanding 4K resolution or sacrificing some resolution and quality for 60fps or even 120fps modes.
Last month, the big update for the next generation was To control, with performance modes and visual quality. Today is Overwatch with options that allow you to choose between 120fps mode or resolution and visual quality. These updates made us fall in love with old games or appreciate how they run better on modern consoles.
This emerging trend brings better options for console games and brings them closer to the wide range of options and modes that have been available on the PC for years. During our review of the Xbox Series X and Series S consoles, we noticed that it looked like this trend was coming up, but I’m still surprised to see these game mode updates appear so often.
So why are these game modes important? Moving from 30fps to 60fps is obviously a big deal that has been going on in console games for years. This results in much smoother gameplay in a variety of titles, and is particularly noticeable in racing games or first-person shooter games. Simply put, it makes games look very different and can reduce entry delay and improve how you end up playing a title.
Being able to choose between all the graphics options enabled or some visual settings disabled with better performance means that you can play the way you want. If you want a more cinematic experience, activate the resolution mode. If you want a smooth and buttery feel, activate the frame rate mode. Some game developers have also introduced balanced modes, but the choices are always relatively simple compared to the myriad of options in PC games.
Although most games are trying to reach 60fps today, the promise of ray tracing means that the option to play as you please is increasingly important. Lightning tracking offers more realistic game scenes, with real-time lighting and effects. It’s an addition to this generation that hasn’t been fully explored by the developers yet, but it has a performance cost that means recent games like Watch Dogs: Legion are having to run at 30fps. This is where performance modes and options can help.
Insomniac Games was quick to add new modes for Remastered Spider-Man on PS5 to allow you to activate ray tracing with a 60fps performance mode. Although the game has a resolution impact on the scenes as a result, it is much less noticeable than if you were running at 30fps.
Other console game updates are also targeting new 120fps modes. The jump from 60fps to 120fps may seem less significant to some, but I would say it is just as important. It’s the kind of change you’ll notice gradually, and if you go back from 120fps to 60fps, you’ll immediately feel the difference. It requires a compatible TV or monitor, however, many people are missing it now. A surprising number of games now support 120 fps, including big names like Call of Duty: Warzone, Destiny 2, Fifteen days, and Overwatch.
Reaching 120fps reliably means a sacrifice in resolution, so most games will not offer full 4K at 120fps on these consoles. If you have the right TV or monitor, the benefits of 120fps are obvious for some games. First-person shooters like Destiny 2 become more responsive and input latency is reduced for racing games like Dirt 5. If your TV supports variable refresh rate (VRR), the benefits are even clearer, as you get smooth gameplay without screen distortion when the frame rate falls at these higher refresh rates.
However, these new 120fps modes are not appearing in the same way. While the Xbox Series X offers more than 20 games with 120fps options, the PS5 has less than 10. Call of Duty: Warzone, Overwatch, and Rocket League all offer 120fps options on the Xbox side, but PS5 support is lagging behind. Rocket League developer Psyonix revealed last year that enabling 120fps on Xbox games is a small patch, but it does require a “full native port” for the PS5.
This gap is due in large part to existing popular cross-platform games and is likely to be one that we will see up close, as developers have more time to port games and work on modes. Sony is also planning to support VRR on the PS5 with a future update, and when that arrives, it should encourage developers to support 120fps more often.
However, it has been encouraging to witness the speed of game updates for these new consoles. We may still be waiting for next generation games and real console stock, but as soon as you can buy a new Xbox or PS5, the games you are already playing will likely offer many of these new modes.