The Xbox Series X is seemingly set to win a big step ahead against its prime rival, the Sony PS5. After fielding nearly comparable specifications, the Xbox Series X looks set to get a performance edge over its arch nemesis – all thanks to a key graphics tech from AMD now set to feature in the Xbox game development kit. According to reports, AMD’s FidelityFX graphics tech has been added to the Xbox ecosystem, therefore bringing a whole number of improvements that come with it. These make for performance upgrades over and above what the physics graphics chips are already capable of offering.
The addition of AMD FidelityFX to the Xbox Series X and Series S is even more important, since in terms of hardware, the Microsoft’s flagship console is mighty similar to the Sony PS5. Both the consoles feature AMD Zen 2 core architecture-based CPUs with their own customisations to it, as well as AMD RDNA 2 based GPUs – also with their own customisations. As a result, while there are a number of key differences between the two consoles, the overall performance, both in terms of benchmark and on paper, are very close to each other. Now, this performance metric may have a segregation in terms of the realism of graphics that each bring to the table.
What FidelityFX brings to the table are features such as variable shading to improve lighting and shadows within games, screen reflections to improve the dynamic interplay of lights, shadows and rays, and features such as ambient occlusion. All of this come together to produce better depth of graphics and more realistic visuals, as AMD has already demonstrated on PC gaming platforms the difference that it can make. Now, the same tech comes to gaming consoles for the first time, and the Xbox Series X is the one getting it right now.
Microsoft has typically always struggled against Sony in terms of getting the upper hand. However, it has made a number of moves of late, which include acquisition of major gaming studio Bethesda, and expansion of all that the Xbox Game Pass brings to the table. Sony, meanwhile, has struck more favourable overall ratings for how its console performs and the intuitive UI, while Microsoft has left how the Xbox plays largely unchanged. With FidelityFX, it’ll be interesting to see if the scales are tipped in favour of the Xbox.
