Microsoft revealed as part of this week's Xbox Games Showcase that Forza Horizon 4 and Sea of Thieves would be joining a selection of Xbox One titles that will be optimised for Xbox Series X, with the upgraded versions available through Smart Delivery and Xbox Game Pass.
So, what does that mean? In the case of Forza Horizon 4, the game will now run in native 4K Ultra HD at 60 frames per second, which will include higher visual fidelity at longer distances. Furthermore, it will also benefit from faster load times and support the Xbox Series X's new Quick Resume feature.
Details on Sea of Thieves are being kept mostly under wraps for now, however we do know for sure that it will be doubling its frame rate to 60fps, as revealed by Xbox exec Aaron Greenberg on a recent Inside Gaming livestream.
There are plenty more Xbox One games that will be getting the "Optimised for Xbox Series X" treatment on the next-gen system as well (such as Ori and the Will of the Wisps), with over 40 of these titles reportedly on the way at launch.
Excited about this? What other Xbox One games to do you want to see optimised? Let us know below.
[source news.xbox.com]
Comments 17
Atleast they don’t charge and force to upgrade for standalone DLC expansions.
Gears 5 upgrades -
Higher resolution textures
Improved anisotropic filtering
Higher-resolution volume fog
Higher quality depth of field
Extremely far draw distances with high level of object detail
Shadow resolution and shadow distance
High-quality screen-space reflections
Post processing improvements like bloom, lens flare, light shafts, ect.
That said, The Coalition is also working on some new Xbox Series X features, including Screen Space Global Illumination, higher particle counts, and yes, the ability to play MP at up to 120fps.
Features available for Xbox Series X exclusively -
Contact Shadows
This allows extremely realistic shadowing as each pixel on screen traces back to the light source to eliminate any shadow biasing artifacts or fill in missing shadows.
Screen Space Global Illumination
Integrated from UE4 4.24 this feature allows us to achieve full realtime GI at 4K/60fps.
SSGI's AO pass replaces the more traditional SSAO giving a much more naturalistic broad real-time AO.
Higher particle counts
Our particle counts are 50% higher than PC Ultra spec.
Real-Time Cinematics in 4K 60fps
Xbox One X cinematics were 4K 30fps
Investigating 120fps Multiplayer support.
Excited for Xbox Series X free upgrades to the already next-gen looking bestseller Forza Horizon 4.
So awesome. They don't need to do this, but the fact that they are makes it all the more likely that I'll revisit these games in the future.
If sea of thieves gets 60fps on the rumoured cheaper console then imma get that. Long mermaid black screens are more tense than actually getting attacked by other players.
As someone who still plays Forza Horizon 4 on an OG Xbox One with 1080p and 30fps, this is going to be a game-changer.
I wish the current call of duty would get the bump up to max pc settings
This is awesome.
Looking forward to the Sea of Thieves improvements. Nice!
Just playing Sea of Thieves and Forza Horizon 4 (Quality Mode) at 60 FPS makes Series X worth buying 😁.
I'm also interested in seeing Monster Hunter World running on Series X.
I hated driving games until I gave Forza Horizon 4 a go. I'll be with this series from here on, so this is welcome news. One of the best looking games on the One X as it is.
Can Playground do the same with Forza Horizon 3 while they're at it?
@Z3u5000
Totally agree with your writing.
A side topic, mostly thinking about it because of Forza Horizon: I just searched this game on game pass and noticed the only entry is Horizon 4. I thought all first party games were supposed to be on the service. Why no Motorsport nor any of the other Horizon entires? Is this to be expected with games made by studios that were recently acquired?
@Tharsman Because the rule was that every new first-party game would be available on Game Pass, not every first-party game. If I remember correctly the first wave was Sea of Thieves, Crackdown 3 and State of Decay 2. Older games are added progressively. Besides, Forza games are discontinued eventually because of the music licencing. Good thing you can buy them and play them forever. Some were added to Games with Gold before being discontinued.
@TimG13 I would love that because I have a soft spot for Forza Horizon 3. If they added 60 FPS on Series X, man... Doesn't the Windows version have a 60 FPS mode?
@Tharsman Forza Horizon 3 will likely be Games With Gold in August and delisted in September like all other Forza games 4 years after launch. With Playground Games now on Fable, I wonder if somehow Forza Horizon 4's license will be longer given it seems very unlikely that Forza Horizon 5 is a 2022 game if it even ends up existing.
@Grumblevolcano @BlueOcean Hmm, music thing makes sense, I guess. I hope they add more of that back catalog soon soon, though. Not saying specifically Forza, but would be awesome if all Microsoft owned back catalog that isn’t shackled by licensing deals eventually was available, yea, even Blinx.
Forza Horizon 4 at 4K60 is almost a killer app, let’s be honest
I hope for Borderlands 3 enhanced for Series X.
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