Sony's new QSSR upscaling is now live in Marvel's Spider-Man 2 on a regular PS5. No PS5 Pro needed. Control Resonant gets it in December, and The Finals, ARC Raiders, No Man's Sky and Hell Let Loose: Vietnam are next, over the coming weeks.
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Sony announced the new batch on the PlayStation Blog on November 13. If you own Marvel's Spider-Man 2, the update is out now, so you can go try it tonight.
What QSSR actually is
QSSR stands for Quick Spectral Super Resolution. Sony introduced it last month. It's an AI upscaler for the base PS5, built on the same foundation as PSSR, the upscaler on the PS5 Pro.
If upscaling is new to you, here's the simple version. Most console games don't render every frame at full 4K, because that's really heavy. They draw a smaller picture and then stretch it up to your TV's resolution. Old-school upscalers make that stretched picture look a bit soft, with jagged or shimmering edges, especially on fences, power lines and hair.
An AI upscaler like QSSR guesses the missing detail much better. Sony says it gives sharper details, cleaner edges and a more stable image than traditional upscalers. "Stable" is the big word here. It means less of that flickering and crawling you see on thin stuff in the distance when you move the camera.
It doesn't make your PS5 more powerful. It just makes the picture it already draws look cleaner. Whether a game also runs faster depends on how each developer uses it.
Which games and when
| Marvel's Spider-Man 2 | Live now (Insomniac) |
| Control Resonant | December update (Remedy) |
| The Finals | Coming soon (Embark) |
| ARC Raiders | Coming soon (Embark) |
| No Man's Sky | "Next few weeks" (Hello Games) |
| Hell Let Loose: Vietnam | Upcoming update (Expression Games) |
Before this, Insomniac had already put QSSR into Marvel's Wolverine. Mike Fitzgerald, Insomniac's head of technology, said they saw "great results" there, so they brought it to Spider-Man 2 as well.
Spider-Man 2: both modes get it
This is the nice part. Insomniac says QSSR works in both Fidelity and Performance modes. So you get it whichever mode you pick.
It should show up well in Spider-Man 2, too. You're swinging fast past thousands of windows, wires and railings, which is exactly the stuff that shimmers with a weaker upscaler.
To get it, just make sure the game is updated. If auto-updates are on, it's probably already there. If not, highlight the game on the home screen, press Options and pick Check for Update.
What the other studios said
Remedy's Erik Jansson said QSSR gives Control Resonant "a much more stable and detailed image," and that the update is coming in December.
Embark, the studio behind both The Finals and ARC Raiders, says it'll bring more sharpness and better environmental clarity. That's a big deal in shooters, where spotting someone at range matters.
Hello Games' Sean Murray said QSSR lets No Man's Sky render the universe in sharper, cleaner detail "while delivering the best possible framerate." And Expression Games says Hell Let Loose: Vietnam gets it through an upcoming update.
Do you still need a PS5 Pro?
Not for this. That's really the point of QSSR. It brings some of what PSSR does on the Pro to the console most people already have.
The PS5 Pro still has more GPU power, and its upgraded PSSR is the stronger version. So the Pro will still look and run better in games that support it. But if you've got a regular PS5 and were feeling left out, this closes the gap a little, for free.
Both QSSR and the upgraded PSSR came out of Project Amethyst, Sony's ongoing work with AMD on graphics tech. If you want to see how PSSR is being used on the big release next week, our GTA 6 on PS5 Pro article has the details.
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More games coming
Sony says developers are "just getting started" and that more PS5 games will get QSSR in the coming months. Because QSSR shares its interface with PSSR, games that already support PSSR on the Pro are the easiest ones to add it to. So keep an eye on Pro-enhanced games you own, they're the likeliest next in line.
We'll update this when the next batch is named. In the meantime, if you're swinging around New York a lot again, a fresh DualSense controller is never a bad idea, those sticks don't last forever.
FAQ
What is QSSR on PS5?
Quick Spectral Super Resolution, Sony's AI upscaler for the base PS5. It's built on the same base as PSSR on PS5 Pro.
Do I need a PS5 Pro for QSSR?
No. It's for the regular PS5.
Which games have QSSR?
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 (now) and Marvel's Wolverine. Control Resonant gets it in December, and The Finals, ARC Raiders, No Man's Sky and Hell Let Loose: Vietnam over the coming weeks.
Does QSSR work in Performance mode in Spider-Man 2?
Yes, Insomniac says it works in both Fidelity and Performance modes.
Sources
- PlayStation Blog: QSSR arrives in Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Control Resonant, The Finals, ARC Raiders, and Hell Let Loose: Vietnam blog.playstation.com
Written by the WIZY creator
A lifelong gamer and Warhammer painter, and the maker of the WIZY RPG game. I write about games, hardware, Warhammer and crypto in plain English, and I check every fact against its source.
