Upcoming Xbox Update May Be The Key To Running Starfield At 60 FPS

An upcoming update to Xbox consoles could finally make it possible to address some key graphical and performance shortcomings in major titles like , and it won't even require a hardware upgrade to do it. The standard for mid-generation updated models established with the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X has seemed like the obvious solution to keep hardware capable of running increasingly challenging games, but it can force owners of the original consoles to play compromised versions. The right software updates, however, have the chance to improve the play experience for everyone already invested in the ecosystem.

Recent years have seen a lot of advancements in gaming technology to work around limitations that have long been the standard in the past. Some, like official support for ray-tracing, have pushed the boundaries of graphics further, while others like Nvidia DLSS have made it possible to optimize performance at a more minor cost to image quality than ever before. Although this tech tends to debut on PCs, it's definitely starting to play a big part in the future of game consoles, even if certain solutions aren't likely to appear until the next generation of Xbox and PlayStation.

Nvidia isn't alone in offering solutions for complex scaling and frame generation, and AMD's offerings in that area are about to get a big upgrade. At GDC 2024, AMD announced FSR 3.1, the newest iteration of the company's FidelityFX Super Resolution technology. This update could be exciting for anyone interested in the progress of gaming tech, but it's an especially big deal for anyone who currently plays a lot of titles on Xbox Series X/S. Among the new changes is Xbox Game Development Kit support, opening the door for titles on the platform to take advantage of what it has to offer.

The leap forward from FSR 3 to 3.1 is a complicated step in its evolution, but the most significant changes lie in fundamental improvements to upscaling and the "" of upscaling and frame generation solutions. The