Sony Confirms Big PS5 Pro Upgrade Is Out in March, Better PSSR Upscaler

Hair Stranding 2.0: Cerny's Bobcut.

I knew it, DF virtually gave the game away yesterday and also starting Resident Evil this morning it's immediately noticable how good the image quality is on the Pro's RT mode, more so than pretty much any other game I've played on console, especially with such RT features

After watching DF’s video it was apparent that this is the new PSSR. 1080p, 60 fps but with ray tracing and the final image gives a clear 4K resolution. Based on everything, this would be either equal to FSR4, or between FSR4 and DLSS 4.5, which in itself is INSANE. This is a game changer, no two ways about it and it’s the final incentive I needed to jump the gun and buy the Pro. Lets see what the people laughing at the Pro have to say now.

@BaldB3lper78 to be honest if you don’t have a keen eye for this it’s quite hard to see it on a phone or monitor. I was at a friend’s house and he was playing Returnal and Forbidden West on his Pro. Trust me, the difference is quite apparent once you see it on a big TV screen.

Really excited for this.
But will it make Aloy’s hair not have a mind of its own and move around independent of the laws of nature? 😅

@BaldB3lper78 Look at the hair.

Absolutely amazing. Can’t wait to try it out with Alan Wake 2, SW Outlaws and GT7.
Also curious about which older games might get an additional update/patch.

I pointed this out yesterday, but it's really odd/coincidental that RER uses upscaling tech, usable on the Pro only, which is a 'gigantic' improvement over other versions.
Whether this is PSSR2, an early build trial etc (which could have been added in the last firmware update), I don't know; but its now clear Capcom have been collaborating with Sony on this.

@Th3solution lol Bro, total misunderstanding of the whole topic
PSSR has nothing to do with physics and the Horizon games not even using PSSR.

@BaldB3lper78 I've never been able to see any difference in PS5 Pro footage compared to the base PS5.

@BaldB3lper78 just look at the hair and might give it a look an a bigger screen and not only your smartphone.

@Jackthelad93 😅😅 at least might save you some money.

@LiamCroft I'm a little confused. The way that DF is talking about RE, it sounds like PSSR2 is already being used, but Sony's press release says that PSSR2 will be rolled out "in the coming weeks." How can a game be taking advantage of PSSR2 if our consoles haven't been patched yet?

@ChikaBambus so true but honestly even ghost of Yotei was pretty amazing on the RT Pro mode. Also 1080p native upscaled to 4K.

@BaldB3lper78 Quickly swap between both images and you will notice that hair is much more crispier and detailed. Is it gamebreaking improvement? No. But every improvement is small step forward.

@ChikaBambus did DF already got hands on PSSR 2.0? Are you sure? Didnt they use regular PS5 PRO as rest of us?

@wildcat_kickz it was likely added as part of a recent update but without the ability to turn it on, or is portable with Requiem which is a bigger file on PS5 vs Xbox

@ChikaBambus
It won't stop the Pro haters from saying that they still 'can't see a difference'...

Finally. Let's go.

I've been in love with the pro. I owned a ps5 slim for a week, sold it and the bought a pro purely based on death stranding 2 alone.

Funny the people that say it's a waste of money etc etc clearly haven't used it side by side with a ps5 on a decent TV.

I would love to see the shimmer issue fixed in certain games though ... Silent hill 2, re2r, Alan wake 2 spring to mind. Didn't spoil my enjoyment but it would be fantastic to clean up the image.

@wildcat_kickz I don't really know, the only thing I can think of is DF were given the PS5 Pro firmware patch ahead of time to test it.

The PlayStation Blog post definitely says it's out for normal PS5 Pro users in March / the coming weeks, suggesting it's not live yet.

@Jackthelad93 Two things about such comparisons are:
1. Youtubes compression messes up how good a thing actually looks on video.
2. Images don't really do justice to seeing the game in motion on a real screen.

It's why the PS5 PRO has been so difficult to market where the PS4 PRO was easier.

@LiamCroft my understanding is Requiem already uses it and perhaps has a portable mode included (it's a larger install than other platforms) and the general release will be later

@cainhurst94 same thing here that we already are at a pretty good visual quality for games. These more in depth features of the pro console aren’t that easy to show and most often not so interesting for the average gamer, which is also ok in my opinion.

@REALAIS it appears they had access to it before the general public, obviously. Them confirming it seems to mean that Sony will officially reveal it pretty soon which matches what the leaks said, pretty exciting.

@Rich33 Let them live in their own deluded word

@Reeneman I'm holding off from playing it and avoiding spoilers like the plague. Cant wait to get the Pro and start enjoying it, especially with that game.

@LiamCroft it’s already used in the new resident evil. The toggle to activate it in older PSSR games will be added with a system software update on march.
There is currently a beta firmware test for the ps5 (pro) but the toggle isn’t included as it seems.

@wildcat_kickz @carlos82
Its completely possible that the current 'mystery' upscaling tech used for the RT mode on Pro is PSSR2 or at least a pre release version. Its certainly only possible to run this tech on the Pro.

It could have been added in the last firmware update, exclusively for RER to use (or maybe via the game files).

If this is the case, the reason why they are likely not claiming it to be PSSR2 is that either the version of PSSR2, or Capcoms implementation of it, are not yet complete, and the game will receive a further visual boost in March to coincide with the full release.

@BaldB3lper78 That is because you are a smart. and even if you see the slightest is it worth upgrading.

Re reading the image above, this appears to confirm that any older game which uses PSSR will automatically upgrade to PSSR2 without an individual game patch, and the toggle is to go back to the original if there is some unforseen issue.

Edit - this is confirmed in the DF video.

Requiem looks incredible on the Pro. Straight up one of the best looking games in console.

In the current system software beta the toggle isn’t included, sadly

@Rich33 exactly this!
Still curious which older games might get an additional patch.

@wildcat_kickz Correct — PSSR2 is already being used.

So, Sony has already provided the upscaler technology to some developers to use in their games. This does not require any firmware update for the PS5 Pro.

What the firmware update will bring, is the ability for PS5 Pro users to apply the new upscaler to games that currently use the older version of PSSR.

@GDoggyJr Interesting. So PSSR2 could improve games that use the older PSSR without the games themselves being patched? Or would devs need to patch the games to actually take full advantage? I guess I'm a little confused on how PSSR actually integrates with games. From what I understand, the devs need to integrate the tech into the game itself, rather than having the upscaler used as a post-processing trick simply layered on top.

@wildcat_kickz The way I understand it, PSSR is a software library to utilize the PS5 Pro hardware for upscaling - this means a game can theoretically have a newer version linked in its build, while the general system update will allow the console to utilize the new tech in games that have the older version themselves.

Make sense because Requiem looks phenomenal on the Pro. I started my playthrough last night. Easily one of the best looking games I've seen on Pro, so far.

@Voltan I think that makes sense, haha. I'm a bit of a dummy when it comes to this kind of stuff, but definitely appreciate the explanation!

@LiamCroft there's a new beta out for ps , im now wondering if I should download it to see if it includes it, no mention of pssr in the notes though, but im thinking they wouldnt because it hadn't been announced.

Cool!

So does this just work out of the box or do devs need to patch their games in to support it?

@Reeneman
I'm listening to the DF video as I type, and they have said that older games using PSSR(1) won't need a patch - this will be done on a system level, with a toggle in case of an issue.
(I suspect thats what the extra 6m of support is about, to clear any bugs found in individual titles when it auto upgrades)

Honestly, if this is all true, this sounds like it could be great news as we were all expecting that individual devs would need to patch their games, and it seems that is not needed.

@Angelus3K have you checked i was thinking the same thing

I wonder if crimson desert will include this , id say definitely gta6, that 60fps doesnt seem as hard to believe now

Nice.. why can't I be concise with just 'Nice' "no you can't be succinct you c#@t"

Would be cool if PS7/8 are released via updates on PS6, charging some £100, consoles would now be dlc. 😉

I guess it's an age thing and coming from playing 8-bit games and upwards but I really don't care about stuff like this at all. Does slightly sharper 4K Hair make the game any more fun to play? No. Does the original one look so bad you have less fun? No.

@Rich33 yes, with the toggle you can apply PSSR 2 to all existing PSSR titles. But still some devs might will fuehrer update their games to apply some changes to their games to let them run better with the new PSSR.

@Angelus3K sadly it’s not there in the beta. I hope it will be accessible in one of the next beta updates. Would love to try this out as soon as possible.

This is awesome news for Crimson Desert, James Bond, Phantom Blade 0, Wolverine, GTA VI.

I especially can't think how Wolverine will look given Insomniac's pedigree in giving us RT with 60 fps etc. even before this.

@Scottyy the framerate itself isn’t that much related to an upscaler like PSSR. There is no frame generation part of this upscaler.
An upscaler gives you room to let your game render with a lower internet resolution (1080p or a little bit lower) and save on additional costs for anti aliasing. The upscaler itself needs of course some processing power as well but not as much as a native 4K rendering.
With saving these performance costs it gives the devs more room for higher framerate and more details.

@wildcat_kickz Yes, so long as you have the toggle enabled, games with PS5 Pro patches that use the older version of PSSR will instead use the new PSSR. (This is based on Cerny's comments on the PlayStation blog post from today.)

What's sociologically interesting is that this contradicts the widely held belief, propagated by Moore'sLawIsDead and many redditors, that the new PSSR would require per-game attention from developers. This was asserted with near certainty, despite Cerny stating in an interview last year that he did not know whether the update might apply backwards to older PSSR games.

You are right that PSSR isn't a post-processing trick applied afterwards, and must be built into the game. I can't say I know much about how it works either. It's worth noting that the toggle will not apply PSSR to games that didn't use PSSR to begin with (e.g., Elden Ring, Horizon Forbidden West). But, fingers crossed it'll improve some of the shakier PSSR implementations (e.g., Alan Wake 2, Silent Hill f).

Also curious to see how Jedi Survivor looks with the new PSSR.
And how PSSR will now compare to UE5s own upscaling. So far this was most often much better as PSSR in these games - Hellblade 2 as the only exception. Can’t wait for all these comparisons by DF and others.