Sony has brought AI-based upscaling to the standard PS5. Announced on the PlayStation Blog on 1 October, Quick Spectral Super Resolution (QSSR) is a lighter version of the PS5 Pro's PSSR upscaler, and it is already live in two games: Marvel's Wolverine and Ghost of Yōtei.
This article is built on Sony's announcement, the Wolverine 1.002 patch notes as published by Push Square, and Digital Foundry's hands-on testing and interview with Sony, all read on 2 October 2026. We have not measured anything ourselves: every frame-time figure below is Digital Foundry's.
What is QSSR, and how is it different from PSSR?
Sony calls QSSR "a new performance tier of AI upscaling". It comes out of Project Amethyst, Sony's graphics collaboration with AMD, and rests on two changes: a streamlined neural network and an implementation hand-tuned for the base console. PSSR, Sony adds, "remains the gold standard" on the Pro.
The hardware explains the gap. According to Digital Foundry, the PS5 Pro has 300 TOPS of dedicated machine-learning hardware and PSSR uses INT8 instructions that the standard PS5 does not support, so QSSR relies mainly on FP16 maths instead. The Verge sums up the practical result: expect output closer to an upscaled 1440p on PS5, against the upscaled 4K that is typical on the Pro.
| QSSR (standard PS5) | PSSR (PS5 Pro) | |
|---|---|---|
| How Sony describes it | "A new performance tier of AI upscaling" | "The gold standard" |
| Hardware | No dedicated AI silicon; mostly FP16 maths | 300 TOPS of dedicated machine-learning hardware; INT8 |
| Typical output | Around 1440p, tuned per game and per mode | 4K in almost every game |
| Upscaling cost measured by Digital Foundry | About 1.5–1.8 ms more than Insomniac's own upscaler (864p to 1440p, Wolverine); around 4.4 ms at 2160p output | Around 2 ms to 4K |
| Adding it to a game | A drop-in replacement for games that already support PSSR, after a few days of tuning | Added game by game, including to existing games through patches |
Which games support QSSR right now?
Two, both first-party and both patched on 1 October. Sony says more will follow because QSSR "will be offered broadly to all PlayStation developers", but it has not named any other game.
| Game | Update | How QSSR is offered | Digital Foundry's verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marvel's Wolverine | Patch 1.002 (1 October) | On by default on the standard PS5 | The biggest gain: "the quality boost can be exceptional" |
| Ghost of Yōtei | 1 October update, same day as the Complete Edition | An additional graphics option | Smaller gain, because image quality was already decent |
Wolverine's patch is the one most players will notice. Per the 1.002 notes reported by Push Square, QSSR is switched on by default on PS5, and the same update addresses progression issues and crashes hitting a small share of players, plus accessibility problems with Navigation Assist, Lock-On, High Contrast and the screen reader. Ghost of Yōtei offers QSSR as an extra option instead, so you have to choose it.
Does QSSR cost performance?
A little, and Digital Foundry put numbers on it. Running a Wolverine cutscene uncapped in performance mode, QSSR was about 1.5 to 1.8 milliseconds slower than Insomniac's own upscaler when taking an 864p image to 1440p: roughly 8 to 10fps. In the normal 60fps performance mode, dynamic resolution absorbs most of that. The game renders at a slightly lower internal resolution, the frame rate ends up similar and the image is much cleaner.
Fidelity mode, which outputs 2160p, is a harder job: DF measured a cost of around 4.4 milliseconds there, very high next to the roughly 2 milliseconds PSSR needs on the Pro. In Ghost of Yōtei's performance mode, by contrast, QSSR ran almost identically to the game's stock FSR 3. DF stresses that one game is not a rule, but if that holds, QSSR becomes a very attractive alternative for PS5 developers.
One point of confusion: a PS5 system update rolled out at the same time, but according to Eurogamer it covers security fixes and better system performance and stability, and it is not clear that it has anything to do with QSSR. Sony's post is explicit that QSSR arrives through game patches.
Does this make the PS5 Pro pointless?
No, and Sony's own engineer is blunt about why. Daniel Craig, principal engineer for graphics R&D at Sony, told Digital Foundry the Pro "is free to pick a much more generous spot" on the cost-versus-quality curve. DF's conclusion is that "a big divide" remains between the same game running QSSR on PS5 and PSSR on Pro, which also outputs at a higher resolution from a higher base.
The case for the other side: for many owners, the Pro's appeal was clean image quality in games that otherwise upscale poorly, and that is exactly the gap QSSR narrows. DF calls the potential "remarkable", because low resolution and weak upscaling have hurt so many games this generation. If you own a standard PS5 and were weighing an upgrade for image quality alone, it is worth waiting to see how many games adopt QSSR.
What we don't know yet
- Which games are next. Sony has named none beyond Wolverine and Ghost of Yōtei.
- How many older games will be patched. Craig told DF that QSSR is a drop-in replacement for games that already support PSSR, needing perhaps a few days of tuning, and that retrofits are "relatively easy and low risk". Each studio still has to decide.
- Whether GTA 6 will use it. Digital Foundry notes that this is Rockstar's call, and nothing in the material we checked says either way. The game is due on 19 November; our latest coverage is on what GTA 6's age ratings reveal.
- Whether it could ever work system-wide. Nothing in Sony's announcement suggests a console-level switch: it works game by game.
Everything else we cover on Insomniac's game lives on our Marvel's Wolverine hub. If you are looking for something new to play on PS5 this month, see October's PS Plus Essential games.
FAQ
Does QSSR work on every PS5 game?
No. Each game needs a patch to add it. On 2 October 2026 only Marvel's Wolverine and Ghost of Yōtei support it; Sony says the technology will be offered to all PlayStation developers but has not named further games.
Is QSSR the same as PSSR on PS5 Pro?
No. QSSR is a streamlined version built for the standard PS5, which lacks the Pro's dedicated machine-learning hardware. Sony calls PSSR the gold standard, and Digital Foundry found that a big quality gap remains between the two.
How do I turn on QSSR in Marvel's Wolverine?
Install patch 1.002. According to the patch notes reported by Push Square, QSSR is enabled by default on the standard PS5, so there is nothing to switch on. In Ghost of Yōtei it is offered as an additional graphics option.
- AI upscaling is coming to PS5 — PlayStation Blog
- Hands-On With QSSR: AI-Driven Upscaling for the Standard PS5 — Digital Foundry
- Sony announces QSSR AI upscaling tech for base PS5 — Digital Foundry
- Wolverine adds Sony's new QSSR tech as default on base PS5 in latest patch — Push Square
- Sony brings AI graphics upscaling to the regular PS5 — The Verge
- PS5 gets AI-guided upscaling, available now in Marvel's Wolverine and Ghost of Yotei — Eurogamer
- Sony reveals new PS5 upscaler tech, QSSR — VGC
First published, based on Sony's announcement, the Wolverine 1.002 patch notes and Digital Foundry's hands-on testing.
