The Pulse
Sony Brings QSSR AI Upscaling to the Standard PS5
Sony announced Quick Spectral Super Resolution (QSSR) for the standard PS5 on October 1, describing it as a new performance tier of AI upscaling. Marvel’s Wolverine and Ghost of Yōtei are the first games to receive QSSR as an optional graph
AI.info Team · Written with AI ·
Sony’s PlayStation 5 Pro keeps the stronger version of its AI upscaler, but the standard PS5 is no longer left out: on October 1, Sony announced Quick Spectral Super Resolution, or QSSR, for the original console. The company says QSSR improves image detail and stability, while acknowledging that its Pro system’s PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) remains the higher-end option. The first two games to add QSSR are Marvel’s Wolverine and Ghost of Yōtei.
QSSR brings AI upscaling to the standard PS5
PSSR analyzes game images pixel by pixel and uses AI to upscale them, according to Sony. The company says the technique’s computational demands had previously made it impossible to bring that experience to the standard PS5. QSSR is a separate performance tier designed to make AI-guided upscaling workable on the less powerful console.
Sony says the new system combines a streamlined neural network with an implementation tuned for PS5 performance. It grew out of Project Amethyst, the graphics-focused collaboration between Sony and AMD. Sony describes QSSR as an improvement to image detail and image stability on the standard console, while reserving its strongest comparison for PSSR on PS5 Pro. Sony’s announcement was written by Daniel Craig, a principal engineer in graphics research and development at Sony Interactive Entertainment. He described the interest in bringing PSSR’s image-quality benefits to the standard console:
“Since the launch of PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) on PS5 Pro, players and developers have asked whether similar image-quality improvements could be brought to the PS5 console.”
Sony says QSSR is built on two key innovations: a streamlined neural network architecture and a hand-tuned implementation intended to maximize performance on PS5. The company calls it a “quick new evolution” of PSSR, developed through Project Amethyst, its AI graphics collaboration with AMD. Sony says the resulting technology brings AI-guided upscaling to the standard console, while PSSR remains the gold standard on PS5 Pro.
Wolverine and Ghost of Yōtei get the first patches
Both games are being patched on October 1 to add QSSR as an additional graphics option, Sony says. That makes the feature a choice within those games rather than a blanket change to every PS5 title. Sony did not give a broader release schedule for other games in its announcement.
Insomniac Games’ head of technology, Mike Fitzgerald, said QSSR adds clarity and stability at the pixel level in Marvel’s Wolverine, including in busy streets and dense alleyways. Fitzgerald described the feature as a fit for the game’s launch and said it would bring some of the PS5 Pro experience to standard PS5 players:
“Our team at Insomniac works hard to make sure each of our games is a showcase of PlayStation hardware, and we’re excited for Marvel’s Wolverine to be one of the first titles to bring this new QSSR technology to players. QSSR adds more pixel-level clarity and stability to our environments, bringing out extra detail amidst the busy streets of Madripoor, the dense alleyways of Shinjuku, and many other areas across Logan’s epic journey. It’s a perfect companion to the launch of Marvel’s Wolverine, and it brings a great taste of the PS5 Pro experience to our players on PS5. Personally, I love seeing how the PlayStation tech teams continually improve the PS5 platform, and I’m excited for more games to make use of QSSR in the future!”
Mike Fitzgerald is Insomniac Games’ head of technology. Sony also shared a statement from Jasmin Patry, lead rendering engineer at Sucker Punch Productions, about QSSR in Ghost of Yōtei. Patry said the technology brings clarity and detail to the game’s characters and environments, and improves temporal stability on PS5:
“At Sucker Punch, we’re excited to bring QSSR to Ghost of Yōtei players so that they can experience the world we’ve created with even more clarity and detail. QSSR excels at resolving the fine details in our characters and environments and does so with a level of temporal stability that hasn’t been possible on the PS5 console until now. We’ve long wished that all PS5 players could experience the incredible image quality that PSSR brings to PS5 Pro, and QSSR is a positive step towards that goal!”
Sony calls QSSR a step below PSSR
The distinction between the two systems matters: Sony does not present QSSR as an equal replacement for PSSR. Instead, it says PSSR remains the top option on PS5 Pro, while QSSR brings some of the same image-quality benefits to the standard console. The announcement provides no performance figures or side-by-side measurements, so the scale of the improvement will depend on the games and on how players judge the new option.
Sony says QSSR will be offered broadly to PlayStation developers and expects more titles to use it. For now, the practical test begins with two patches and an optional graphics setting in each game.