Sony has announced QSSR, a new AI upscaling technology for the standard PlayStation 5. It is an offshoot of PSSR, the AI super-resolution tech that was exclusive to the PS5 Pro, and aims to improve image detail and stability. Since October 1, 2026, two titles, Marvel's Wolverine and Ghost of Yōtei, support it through patches.

What Is QSSR?

QSSR stands for Quick Spectral Super Resolution, and Sony describes it as a quick evolution of PSSR. The game renders at a lower internal resolution, then a neural network rebuilds a higher-resolution image using data from previous frames as well. The approach shares its principles with NVIDIA's DLSS, AMD's FSR 4 and PSSR.

According to Sony, two ideas sit at the core: a streamlined neural network architecture that lowers compute demands, and an implementation hand-tuned for PS5 hardware. It is designed to run on the standard console, which lacks the dedicated AI hardware of the PS5 Pro.

Sony says PSSR remains the gold standard on PS5 Pro, which makes QSSR a lighter option for the standard PS5.

Born from Project Amethyst

QSSR comes out of Project Amethyst, Sony's AI graphics collaboration with AMD. The project was announced in December 2024 and aims to develop techniques usable on both PlayStation and Radeon hardware. It extends the AI upscaling that debuted on the PS5 Pro to the much larger base of standard consoles.

Supported Games and Results

The first supported titles are Insomniac Games' Marvel's Wolverine and Sucker Punch Productions' Ghost of Yōtei. Digital Foundry tested the technology and called the quality boost in Marvel's Wolverine potentially exceptional, with better temporal stability, more detail and fewer artifacts.

Ghost of Yōtei, which already looks strong, saw less dramatic improvements. Results clearly vary by title.

On performance, Digital Foundry measured a cost of 1.5 to 1.8 milliseconds per frame. In 60fps modes, performance reportedly stays practically identical despite the lower input resolution. Sony itself has not published detailed figures such as frame-time costs or internal resolution targets.

What Comes Next

QSSR is already available to developers, and each game adopts it through a patch. More first-party titles may follow, but retrofitting older games is considered unlikely.

Summary

QSSR extends the benefits of AI upscaling, previously limited to the PS5 Pro, to the far larger base of standard PS5 consoles. Only Marvel's Wolverine and Ghost of Yōtei support it so far, and the size of the improvement differs by title. How many games adopt it will determine how much it improves the standard PS5.

References
[1] https://blog.playstation.com/2026/10/01/ai-upscaling-is-coming-to-ps5/
[2] https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/joao-silva/sony-reveals-project-amethyst-amd-co-developed-next-gen-ai-enhanced-hardware/