Microsoft is "still evaluating" if FPS Boost can work on Xbox 360-era and older games

The recently unveiled Xbox FPS Boost feature will largely focus on improving the performance of Xbox One-era games, Microsoft says.

Speaking on the Kinda Funny podcast (via Pure Xbox), Xbox Director of Program Management Jason Ronald explained that while Xbox 360-era and older games could get the FPS Boost treatment, the feature is largely aimed at Xbox One games.

"Right now, we're focused primarily on Xbox One generation titles because we've seen the best results there. We're still evaluating, can we bring this technology back to Xbox 360 games or original Xbox games?" Ronald said.

Microsoft says the new FPS Boost feature is capable of doubling, and in rare cases quadrupling, the framerates of older Xbox games running on Xbox Series X/S, all without the help of the original developer. Unfortunately, the hands-off nature of the tech means it simply isn't compatible with some games. In the same podcast, Ronald details some of the challenges the Xbox team faced when trying to add FPS Boost to certain games.

"The techniques that we've come up with will not work on every title. We've actually gotten some games working, and honestly, I'm playing the game, it's super awesome, it feels great, it's buttery smooth, but then all of a sudden we realize, 'oh, this character over in the corner is animating twice as fast.' Or, maybe three-quarters of the way through the game, all of the sudden we find a physics-breaking bug because the system's running the game so fast that the game doesn't actually know how to handle that," Ronald explained.

The first batch of FPS Boosted games includes Far Cry 4, New Super Lucky's Tale, Sniper Elite 4, UFC 4, and Watch Dogs 2. Microsoft hasn't said which games are getting the feature next, but Ronald said he expects new batches of games every couple of weeks.

Hey! Check out all the upcoming Xbox Series X games we're excited about.