PlayStation 6 be damned, the PS5 is getting a major graphics update

Thanks to Sony’s latest collaborative project, PlayStation 5 games are about to look even better– but don’t worry if you’re not a PS5 owner, because these technical leaps are going to make their way to other video game systems too.

Tom’s Guides’ Alex Wawro recently sat down with the PlayStation 5’s lead architect, Mark Cerny, and two of AMD’s lead executives, Jack Huynh and Jeff Connell, to discuss their work on “Project Amethyst”.

Project Amethyst is the codename for a joint collaborative effort between Sony and AMD, and they’ve been working together on said project since 2023.

Well, it seems they have something big to show for all their efforts now: a brand new graphical upgrade for the PlayStation 5 Pro.

“The algorithm they came up with could be implemented on current-generation hardware," Cerny told Tom’s Guides.

“So the co-developed algorithm has already been released by AMD as part of FSR 4 on PC. And we're in the process of implementing it on PS5 and it will release next year on PS5 Pro.”

If you don’t understand any of those words, here’s the basic version: AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 (better known as FSR 4) is a machine-learning-based upscaling technology.

And, here’s the even more basic version: AI make game graphics look nicer.

Here’s the super interesting part, though: this technology isn’t PlayStation-exclusive.

“This is not for proprietary technology," Cerny continued.

“This is really trying to move the industry forward. Obviously we want to use these technologies on our consoles, but these technologies are available to any of AMD's customers freely.”

PC users can actually already use FSR 4 on their rigs, as it’s been available on PC for a while now. But the truly interesting part is that Microsoft and AMD just announced that they’re working together on the next-gen Xbox.

We’ll have to see if Microsoft adopts the same tech for their next console when it drops… whenever that is.