Sony Announces Integration of AMD FSR 4 Technology Into PS5 Pro

Sony recently announced that the PlayStation 5 Pro will undergo a significant AI technology upgrade in 2026. This upgrade will be based on AMD’s newly launched FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 (FSR 4), further refining Sony’s proprietary upscaling technology, PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR). In an interview, PlayStation lead architect Mark Cerny revealed that Sony aims to equip the PS5 Pro with an upgraded algorithm akin to FSR 4 by 2026, marking the next evolution of PSSR. This upgrade promises not only improved image quality but also seamless compatibility with existing frameworks, delivering a sharper and smoother visual experience for players.

This technological leap stems from “Project Amethyst,” a collaboration between Sony and AMD that began in late 2023. The partnership seeks to deeply integrate AI with graphics processing, and FSR 4 represents the first tangible outcome of this joint effort. Cerny disclosed that FSR 4’s neural network architecture offers image clarity surpassing the current PSSR and has already been preliminarily deployed on PS5 Pro hardware.

The PS5 Pro’s custom machine learning hardware boasts a computational capacity of 300 8-bit TOPS (trillions of operations per second), capable of meeting the demands of the new algorithm without relying on sparse computing. This performance rivals some of AMD’s recent high-end GPUs, laying a solid foundation for AI-driven image enhancement. While Cerny admitted that fully adapting FSR 4 to a console is a “challenging and time-consuming” task, the PS5 Pro’s existing architecture requires minimal adjustments to support this technology.

In 2025, Sony’s focus will remain on encouraging developers to integrate the current PSSR technology into game development while refining enhanced support for the PS5 Pro. Cerny emphasized that console gaming differs from PC gaming in technical priorities, particularly regarding frame rate stability. Console players typically prioritize a consistent 60 frames per second (FPS), whereas PC platforms allow for greater flexibility in frame rate demands. As such, Sony must tailor optimizations for the PS5 Pro to ensure the new PSSR delivers both high image quality and smooth performance. This customized approach reflects the core philosophy of Project Amethyst: crafting efficient AI graphics solutions specifically for gaming consoles.

Beyond the upscaling upgrade, Project Amethyst may hold additional surprises. Rumors suggest that enhanced ray tracing capabilities are also on the collaboration’s agenda. The PS5 Pro already boasts a new ray tracing architecture that boosts performance to 2–3 times that of the base PS5, with peaks reaching up to 4 times higher. When paired with FSR 4’s AI capabilities, future ray tracing performance could see further breakthroughs, offering players more realistic lighting and shadow effects. Currentl