AMD delivered its best upscaling technology yet with the launch of the RX 9070 series graphics cards just last week. Dubbed FidelityFX Super Resolution 4, or FSR 4 for short, this evolution of the technology finally touts the use of machine learning for its upscaling algorithm, much like Nvidia's DLSS options. As PC players enjoy the new FSR flavor, Sony has confirmed that PlayStation is not far behind on getting it, or something very close to it.
In an interview with Eurogamer, Sony's lead system architect, Mark Cerny, confirmed that FSR 4 had been a collaborative project between AMD and Sony as a part of "Project Amethyst." Now, the company's goal is to bring the upscaling techniques to its latest console update, the PlayStation 5 Pro.
"The neural network (and training recipe) in FSR 4's upscaler are the first results of the Amethyst collaboration," says Cerny. "And results are excellent, it's a more advanced approach that can exceed the crispness of PSSR. I’m very proud of the work of the joint team!"
While PC players already have dozens of games with FSR 4 support, with many more to come in 2025, PlayStation owners will be waiting until 2026 for their turn. Sony's own PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution) upscaling tech will still be delivered across many games releasing in 2025 though:
"Our focus for 2025 is working with developers to integrate PSSR into their titles; in parallel, though, we have already started to implement the new neural network on PS5 Pro. Our target is to have something very similar to FSR 4's upscaler available on PS5 Pro for 2026 titles as the next evolution of PSSR; it should take the same inputs and produce essentially the same outputs. Doing that implementation is rather ambitious and time consuming, which is why you haven't already seen this new upscaler on PS5 Pro."
Cerny understands the difference in capability of the hardware running FSR 4 on PC, which is currently exclusive to the RDNA 4-based RX 9070 series GPUs, and the PlayStation 5 Pros's internals. However, he says that despite the differences, PlayStation 5 Pro's machine learning hardware will be capable of achieving something similar to FSR 4.
Sony may also be looking at implementing AMD's newest advancements in ray tracing efficiency into its hardware too, with Cerny adding that "there’s a lot of opportunity with our Amethyst collaboration, and we know that ray tracing is a huge part of the graphics future." However, this may be hinting at hardware upgrades coming with the PlayStation 6 rather than any improvements to currently available systems.
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