QSSR vs PSSR: what base PS5 owners get, and which games have it

QSSR is a lighter version of PSSR, rebuilt so the base PS5 can actually run it. Both are upscalers: the game draws each frame at a lower resolution, then software rebuilds it to look like a higher-resolution image. That saves power the console can spend on frame rate or effects.

PSSR, short for PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution, launched as a PS5 Pro exclusive. When Sony introduced QSSR (Quick Spectral Super Resolution) in October, it explained that PSSR asks too much of the original console’s chip to simply be copied over. So its engineers built QSSR around two changes:

• a trimmed-down neural network, meaning a smaller AI model that needs less computing work per frame;
• an implementation tuned by hand to squeeze the most speed out of the base PS5.

Here’s how the two line up side by side:

• Hardware: PSSR is for the PS5 Pro; QSSR is for the standard PS5.
• Quality: Sony calls PSSR the gold standard; it says QSSR brings noticeable gains in detail and image stability over older upscaling on the base console.
• Roots: both grew out of Project Amethyst, Sony’s ongoing graphics partnership with AMD.
• For developers: QSSR uses the same interface as PSSR, so games that already support PSSR are an easy fit.

That last point matters more than it sounds. Because studios can plug QSSR into the same hooks they built for PSSR, the games most likely to get it next are ones that already have Pro enhancements.

Three games have QSSR today, and five more have confirmed it. The first wave in October was Ghost of Yōtei and Marvel’s Wolverine. Spider-Man 2 joined them on November 13. Here is the full confirmed list and where each one stands:

• Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch): has it, since the October launch of QSSR.
• Marvel’s Wolverine (Insomniac): has it, since October.
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (Insomniac): live now in update 1.006, released November 13.
• Control Resonant (Remedy): coming in a December update, no exact day yet.
• No Man’s Sky (Hello Games): coming in the next few weeks.
• The Finals: coming soon, no date.
• ARC Raiders: coming soon, no date, from the same studio as The Finals.
• Hell Let Loose: Vietnam (Expression Games): coming in an upcoming update, no date.

Sony says developers are only getting started and that more PS5 games will add QSSR over the coming months. It hasn’t named any of them yet.

The Spider-Man 2 patch does one thing: it swaps in QSSR for better image detail and stability on the base PS5. The official changelog says nothing about gameplay has changed.

Insomniac’s head of technology, Mike Fitzgerald, said the team decided to add it after seeing strong results in Wolverine, and that the benefits show up in both Fidelity and Performance modes. So you don’t have to give up frame rate to get the cleaner image.

Each developer is promising slightly different gains, which hints at where QSSR helps most. Sucker Punch, which added it to Ghost of Yōtei first, said it is especially good at picking out fine detail in characters and scenery while keeping the picture steady from frame to frame, something its lead rendering engineer said the base PS5 couldn’t manage before.

• Hell Let Loose: Vietnam: game director Paul Rustchynsky expects cleaner visuals everywhere from thick jungle to large battles.
• No Man’s Sky: Hello Games wants sharper, cleaner detail across its generated universe without giving up frame rate.
• The Finals and ARC Raiders: their technical art director, Mikael Linderholm, points to more sharpness and clearer environments.
• Control Resonant: Remedy highlights steadier images and finer detail.

Notice the pattern. Almost every studio leads with image stability, meaning less flicker on fine edges as the camera moves, rather than raw resolution.

Sony describes QSSR arriving through each game’s update, and there’s nothing extra to buy, so the steps are simple:

1. Make sure your PS5 is online and the game is installed.
2. Download the latest patch. For Spider-Man 2, that’s update 1.006 or later.
3. For the other titles, watch their next patch notes for a mention of QSSR.
4. Play in Fidelity or Performance mode as you normally would. Insomniac says the upgrade applies to both.

QSSR narrows the gap but doesn’t close it. Sony is clear that PSSR on the Pro remains its best upscaler, because the Pro has more graphics hardware to run the heavier model. If image quality is the main reason you play, the Pro is still the stronger machine.

For everyone else, this is a free upgrade to a console that’s six years into its life. A Remedy graphics programmer, Erik Jansson, described it as bringing the kind of jump PSSR gave the Pro to the regular PS5. Hello Games founder Sean Murray said No Man’s Sky will look sharper while still aiming for the best frame rate it can manage.

What we don’t have yet are hard numbers. Sony and the studios talk about sharpness, cleaner edges and steadier images, but no one has published per-game resolution or frame-rate figures for the new updates. Independent side-by-side testing will be the real verdict.