Microsoft has pioneered plenty of system-level enhancements for Xbox this generation - FPS Boost instantly comes to mind with its frame rate improvements across select Xbox 360 and Xbox One titles. However, some of the team's plans for Xbox Series X|S seemingly never materialised, including its 'Resolution Boost' program; a feature that Digital Foundry's John Linneman discussed on a recent podcast.
Yep, as we spoke about here at Pure Xbox a few months ago, Microsoft had some form of resolution 'auto-boost' program running for Xbox One titles on Xbox Series X and S consoles - but it never released publicly. Here's what Linneman had to say about the feature, which he actually saw running at Microsoft before the new consoles launched:
"There's the Minecraft path tracing on Xbox, and then there was also the Resolution Boost feature, which we got to actually control ourselves - I saw it working, it was a thing, it just never actually came out.
There must have been something that happened where they shifted focus to FPS Boost or... I'm not sure exactly. But clearly, something changed at some point."
Down below is a link to the full clip - where Linneman and the 'Xbox Two Podcast' hosts discuss the phantom feature.
It's a curious one this, because even original Xbox and some Xbox 360 games get resolution boosts - so why the feature never arrived for Xbox One titles remains a mystery. Linneman speculates that Xbox One X patches may have diverted the team's focus away from 'Res Boost', but that was never mentioned by Microsoft.
Maybe one day we'll get the full story, but for now, any sort of Xbox One 'Resolution Boost' feature seems confined to the secret vault at Microsoft HQ.