Microsoft ‘evaluating’ major frame rate boost for Xbox and Xbox 360 classics

Microsoft is ‘evaluating’ whether its newly-announced FPS Boost tech for Xbox One games on next-gen systems can be applied to games from earlier consoles.

The impressive tech means some notable Xbox One titles can be experienced at double or quadruple the original frame rate, when enjoyed via backward compatibility on the Xbox Series S or Series X.

Microsoft has only announced six Xbox One-era games as part of the initiative, with Super Lucky’s Tale available at a buttery-smooth 120fps on the newest consoles.

In an interview with Kinda Funny Xcast, Jason Ronald, the director of program management for Xbox, said that the focus will remain on Xbox One games for now, but didn’t rule out applying the tech to older generation’s titles.

He said (via Pure Xbox): “Right now, we’re focused primarily on Xbox One generation titles because we’ve seen the best results there. We’re still evaluating, can we bring this technology back to Xbox 360 games or original Xbox games?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VJD_vFdIdY?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1

So, no guarantees, but Microsoft is certainly looking into the possibility of improved frame rates for games from Microsoft’s first two console releases.

During the same interview, Rolland warned that not every Xbox One game is suitable for an FPS Boost, noting that some titles respond better to the methodology than others. He said only a “curated” list of titles will be applicable.

He added: “The techniques that we’ve come up with will not work on every title. We’ve actually gotten some games working, and honestly I’m playing the game, it’s super awesome, it’s buttery smooth, but then all of a sudden we realise, oh, this character over in the corner is animating twice as fast. Or, maybe three quarters of the way through a game, all of a sudden we find a physics-breaking bug because the system’s running the game so fast, that the game doesn’t actually know how to handle that.”

Should Microsoft crack the code for even older games, we could theoretically see some original Xbox games upgraded to run at 120fps.