Digital Foundry discussed this with Microsoft and we now know that backwards compatibility on Xbox Series S and X will be able to go at double fps.

The bombardment of information about the new generation in the last two weeks has been enormous. Therefore, we must calmly study each detail and also wait for the news that will emerge without stopping in the coming weeks. On this occasion, we bring you more details of how backwards compatibility will work on Xbox Series S, thanks to Richard Leadbetter of Digital Foundry, who spoke directly with Microsoft on the subject and wrote an article in Eurogamer.

Microsoft has transmitted very clearly how the games of previous generations will work on Xbox Series X, but it has not been until now that we have better known how they will go in Series S. In fact, we only knew that it will not work the same as in Series X, and that it will not have some Xbox One X features either, but that we will still notice improvements.

Well, the reality is that Series S is going to have different functions that will allow us to better enjoy old games. First, in the case of original Xbox games, the S Series will move these games with improved resolution – games targeting 480p on the original machine will max out at 1440p on the S Series, in addition to likely having performance benefits.

There is good news for Xbox 360 games that were released enhanced for Xbox One X, too. These games will also be improved in Series S and those that ran at native 720p will be able to reach 1440p. This doesn’t match the maximum 4K we saw on the Xbox One X, but the door to further enhancements is open thanks to the Series S CPU, which is much faster than the One X’s.

Xbox Series S power will enhance One S gaming experience Xbox Series S, as we said, will not take advantage of all the improvements of Xbox One X, but in turn, it will use those of Xbox One S, because its power will improve the experience of Xbox One S titles. If a game is limited to one resolution, Series S will not be able to do anything, but in dynamic resolution games, we could see higher resolutions and improvements in the quality of the texture filtering.

Of course, using an SSD in Series S will help to reduce load times considerably. Additionally, Series X’s Auto HDR feature is also in Series S and games that take advantage of this functionality should look good. By the way, games with limited CPUs should also offer more stable performance in terms of fps.

Also, Digital Foundry highlights something very interesting: Select Xbox One titles will run at double fps on Series X and Series S. “We designed the S Series to enhance Xbox One S games in a way that the Xbox One X can’t do it. We made it easy to upgrade existing Xbox One games to run at twice the frame rate when also played on the S Series, “said Andrew Goossen, systems architect, in the talk.

According to Goossen, the Series S GPU runs Xbox One S games with better performance than Xbox One X. Also, the developer commented that updating the games, as they have raised the architecture, is something simple. “We are working with game developers and publishers to update [their titles]. Basically, these will be select games that run at twice the frame rate on the Series S, “he said. Developers will be able to enable this feature in some games, while others may be collaborations between the creators and Microsoft’s compatibility team.

Finally, Digital Foundry concluded with the following, by way of summary: “From what we understand, Xbox titles can be improved for both Series S and Series X in different ways: the compatibility team can make games from 30 fps to 60 fps, and titles from 60 fps to 120 fps. Also, developers can now see if their Xbox One games run on Series S and X, and make any changes they want without porting the games. “